Kōchi Prefecture Archives

LongeviQuest is delighted to announce the age validation of Hideko Sōgawa at age 111. She was a Japanese supercentenarian considered as the oldest living person in Kōchi Prefecture at the time of her death.

Hideko Sōgawa was born on 5 February 1909 in Gobō, Wakayama Prefecture. At some point in her life, she got married and had two sons and three daughters.

She was a home economics teacher at a prefectural high school while raising her children. Hideko retired when she was 60 years old.

At the age of 109.
(Source: Facebook)

At age 96 sometime in 2005, she moved to where her daughter lived in Kōchi City. Until she was around the age of 109, Hideko would walk about 300 meters away from her home to a meeting place on a hill. This is where she would participate in a 40-minute “A lively 100-year-old gymnastics” for strength training for the elderly. She does this exercise once a week while also walking around her house with her daughter. It was also reported that Hideko would sometimes leave her can at the meetinghouse knowing that she could walk home just as well without it.

Hideko Sōgawa passed away on 6 June 2020 in Kōchi, Kōchi Prefecture, Japan, when she was at the age of 111 years, 122 days.

For more information, please view Hideko Sōgawa’s Directory Profile here.

LongeviQuest is pleased to announce the age validation of Chie Miyazaki at 111 years old. She was a Japanese supercentenarian whose age has been validated by LQ. At the time of her death, she was the oldest living person in Kōchi Prefecture.

Chie Miyazaki was born on 17 January 1910, in Kōchi City, Kōchi Prefecture, Japan. She was the second daughter of her parents out of five children.

She worked for several years at mansions as a babysitter and domestic worker. At that time, it was a normal work for many teenage girls like her age.

At the age of 104.
(Source: Kochi Shinbun)

When she was 23 years old, she married a fisherman from Urado Bay named Kentaro. They lived together by the bay to stay close at her husband’s work. She would assist Kentaro while fishing by rowing the boat’s oar while he was casting the net. However, Miyazaki disliked the smell of fish, so she didn’t prefer eating it.

The couple had five children. She would later tell stories to her second daughter and her granddaughter about wartime stories.

On 16 December 2021, Chi Miyazaki passed away in Kōchi City, Kōchi Prefecture, Japan, at the age of 111 years old.

For more information, please view Chi Miyazaki’s Directory Profile here.