BIOGRAPHY

Tsuyoshi Hanawa was born in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, on 9 January 1910. He enrolled as a second-year student at Ibaraki Prefectural Shimodate Commercial School (now Shimodate Daiichi High School) and lived in a dormitory during his high school years. He graduated from Meiji University’s School of Politics and Economics in 1931 and from the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ Police Training Institute in 1941, becoming a police officer. He served as the chief of the Mizukaido, Shimotsuma, and Tsuchiura Police Stations, and also held positions as the principal of the police academy, and the chief of the forensics and accounting departments.

In 1951, he became the chief of the Ibaraki Prefectural Police Headquarters, the chief of the Mito Police Station in 1954, and in 1957, he became the head of the Criminal Affairs Department of the Ibaraki Prefectural Police, attaining the high rank of superintendent-in-chief. By 1960, he served as the Ibaraki Prefectural Audit Commissioner.

Hanawa married and had four daughters. According to the Ibaraki Prefecture Gentlemen’s Directory, he was living in Mito City in 1964, and his hobbies included photography, with kendo being his special skill. In 1987, he was an auditor for the Ibaraki Shoko Shinkin Bank.

Tsuyoshi Hanawa passed away in Hitachiōmiya, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, on 27 March 2020, at the age of 110 years, 78 days.

RECOGNITION

In 2014, at the age of 104, he became the oldest living man in Hitachiōmiya.

On 17 January 2020, following the passing of 110-year-old Torinosuke Iida, he became the oldest living man in Ibaraki Prefecture.

At the time of his death, he was the fourth-oldest living man in Japan, behind Issaku Tomoe, Shōjirō Shirai, and Gorō Danjō.

Upon his passing, Motoi Fukunishi succeeded him as the Prefecture’s oldest living man.

ATTRIBUTION

* 茨城紳士録 昭和３９年度

* “長寿をお祝いしました” – Hitachiomiya City Public Relations, October 2019 issue

* “常盤大宮市　塙毅さん” – Ibaraki Shimbun, 31 March 2020

GALLERY