Background
Hongo was born Kamato Kimura on the small island of Tokunoshima, home of Shigechiyo Izumi, around 1893.
本郷 かまと
Hongo was born Kamato Kimura on the small island of Tokunoshima, home of Shigechiyo Izumi, around 1893.
She was considered to be the world"s oldest recognized living person from March 2002 until her death. The Guinness World Records withdrew its acceptance and verification of Hongo"s age claim in 2012. She was considered to be the oldest person in Japan after the death of Denzo Ishisaki in 1999.
She appeared on Japanese television several times.
She spent her later life in Kagoshima, Kyūshū, and celebrated her claimed 116th birthday the month before her death from pneumonia. Kyūshū has been the home of other age recordholders, including former WOM and WOP Yukichi Chuganji, who died one month before her.
Belgian researcher Michel Poulain has looked over Kamato Hongo"s koseki records, and determined that since she had an older sister born in 1887, an older brother born in 1890 and that since there was no mention of an adoption, Hongo was probably actually about 110 or so when she died, rather than 116. This means that Hongo was probably never the real WOP and never even Japan"s oldest living person.
She might or might not have been a supercentenarian at the time of her death.