Chiyo Katō was born in Japan on 25 September 1909. She worked as a nurse and midwife from her teenage years. She lived through five eras (Meiji, Taishō, Shōwa, Heisei, Reiwa) and experienced many significant events in Japanese history, such as the 1918 Rice Riots, the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, the Great Depression, and World War II. She remembered a time when people still inhabited the mountains of Saitama.

In her later years, she navigated life in a wheelchair but was reportedly of sound mind and enjoyed engaging in conversations with others until her passing.

Chiyo Katō passed away in Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture, Japan, on 18 September 2020, at the age of 110 years, 359 days.