Masa Matsumoto

BIOGRAPHY

Matsumoto was born in Kōnan-cho, Kōka District (now part of the city of Kōka), Shiga Prefecture, Japan, on 29 November 1909. She was the eldest of seven children. After graduating from elementary school, she left her family home and spent several years working as a babysitter (Japanese: “Komori-Houkou”) at the Mitsubishi Group‘s mansion in Osaka. Around the age of 22, she married her childhood friend and had two children, a son and a daughter.

Matsumoto lived with her eldest son’s family in Osaka until she was 89, where she enjoyed taking care of her grandchildren. After her son passed away, she moved to Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture to live with her daughter, doing so until she was 108. Between the ages of 92 to 108, she attended a local care center for the elderly thrice weekly, where she began to paint with watercolors.

At the age of 108, Matsumoto was hospitalized with a compression fracture in her lower back. Since her home was on the third floor, she worked hard at the rehabilitation facility to recover, practicing going up and down from the first to the third floor every day. She was told by her doctor that it would take three months for her to fully recuperate, but within a month she had recovered. Other than this fracture, she had no history of illness or injuries. She drank sake every day until she moved into a nursing home. Her family claimed that the secret of her longevity was her calm personality.

Matsumoto passed away in in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan on 9 July 2024, aged 114 years, 223 days.

RECOGNITION

In September 2020, Matsumoto was reported to be the third-oldest living person in Kanagawa Prefecture, after Mitsu Katsuta (of Yamato) and Kimi Kawasaki (of Kawasaki). Following Kawasaki’s passing on 10 December 2022, Matsumoto became the oldest living person in the Prefecture.

On 10 January 2023, upon the death of 114-year-old Hide Hamabe, Matsumoto entered the top 10 oldest living people in Japan.

In February 2023, after surpassing the final age of Natsuyo Kinase, Matsumoto entered the top five oldest people ever in Kanagawa Prefecture. At the time of her passing, she held the fourth spot, following Chiyo Miyako, Koto Ōkubo, and Kiyoko Ishiguro.

Matsumoto’s age was verified by Yumi Yamamoto and validated by LongeviQuest on 22 March 2023.