BIOGRAPHY

Matsu Tsuru was born in Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan, on 25 February 1896. She married into a Kama City family around the age of 20 and moved there to live with her husband. The couple went on to have with whom she ten children; seven sons and three daughters. As of September 2007, she had over 20 grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and five great-great grandchildren.

At some point in 2004, around the age of 108, she entered a nursing home for the elderly in Kama City, Fukuoka Prefecture. While here, she was said to eat three square meals a day. In September 2007, at the age of 111, she was visited by the city mayor and given a congratulatory letter on behalf of the prefectural governor in celebration of Respect for the Aged Day. She was admitted to hospital following a deterioration in her condition at the age of 111.

Matsu Tsuru passed away in hospital in Kama City, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan, on5  February 2008, at the age of 111 years, 345 days.

RECOGNITION

On 19 August 2007, following the death of 113-year-old Shitsu Nakano, she became the oldest living person in Fukuoka Prefecture.

Upon her passing, she was succeeded as the Prefecture’s oldest living person by Chisato Ito.

ATTRIBUTION

* “111歳、鶴さんの長寿祝う” – Nishinihon Shimbun, 14 September 2007

* “まちの話題 – 敬老のお祝い” – Kama City Public Relations Magazine, 2007

* “福岡県/県内最高齢111歳 鶴松さん死去 嘉麻市” – Nishinihon Shimbun, February , 2008

GALLERY