BIOGRAPHY

Torinosuke Iida was born in Yatabe Town (now Tsukuba City), Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, on 25 December 1909, into a farming family. He was the youngest of three children. After graduating from elementary school, he worked as a live-in apprentice at his relative’s men’s clothing tailoring shop in Asakusa, Tokyo. He loved detailed work and spent five years mastering the art of sewing formal wear and suits. Even in his old age, he remembered how rigorous the training was.

In 1932, he opened a clothing store in Ishige (present-day Jōsō City). Around the same time, he married Haru, a fellow native. When they first opened the store, they struggled to make ends meet, but they supported each other and managed to keep the business running. At that time, only doctors and famous people in town wore Western clothes. The cost of a suit was about the same as the salary of a university graduate teacher, so some customers had difficulty paying the price. However, the number of customers gradually increased.

During the Sino-Japanese War (1937–45), Iida served in Shandong Province, China. During that time, his wife Haru ran the clothing store by herself and took care of the family. After World War II, Iida established a dressmaking school for women in 1954 in Ishige. Until he moved to Shimotsuma City in 1993, he continued to make custom-made clothes with great dedication, ensuring each garment fit the customer’s body perfectly.

His wife Haru passed away in 1995 at the age of 83. After her death, he lived with his daughter and her family of five. (As of 2018, his daughter was 85 years old.)

At 109 years old, he lived independently and maintained a regular routine: waking up at 6 a.m., reading the newspaper, enjoying a hearty breakfast, weeding and working in the garden for exercise, taking a nap, and going to bed at 8 p.m. He grew cattleyas and orchids in the garden, as well as mandarin oranges, kumquats, and yuzu in the field, devoting himself to their care and harvest. Even at the age of 109, he had no trouble sewing his great-great-grandson’s lesson bag, and he made it a daily routine to iron clothes for his entire family.

Regarding the secret to his longevity, he attributed it to genetic factors and a regular lifestyle. Additionally, he ate a spoonful of sesame seeds every day. His family believed that his good health was due to his continued curiosity, reading the newspaper every day and quickly researching things he didn’t understand. He began traveling at the age of 100, visiting Nara Prefecture to see his grandchildren at 102, and traveling to Shikoku to visit his grandchildren again at 104 and 109, enjoying cruises during these trips.

Regarding the secret to his longevity, he attributed it to genetic factors and a regular lifestyle. Additionally, he ate a spoonful of sesame seeds every day. His family believed that his good health was due to his continued curiosity, reading the newspaper every day and quickly researching things he didn’t understand. He began traveling at the age of 100, visiting Nara Prefecture to see his grandchildren at 102, and traveling to Shikoku to visit his grandchildren again at 104 and 109, enjoying cruises during these trips.

RECOGNITION

Following the death of Ryosuke Sakuma in March 2018 at the age of 109, Iida became the oldest living man in Ibaraki Prefecture.

On 25 December 2019, Iida turned 110 years old, making him the 6th-oldest living man in Japan at that time.

His age was verified by Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare (MHLW), as well as Ryohei Asano and Yumi Yamamoto, and validated by LongeviQuest on 11 June 2024.

ATTRIBUTION

* “新春インタビュー 県内男性最高齢者　109歳　飯田酉之助さん” – Shimotsuma City Public Relations Magazine, January 2019 issue

GALLERY