Kamato Hongo

(8 April 1891 (or 16 September 1887 from March 2002 until her death. Guinness World Records withdrew its acceptance and verification of Hongo's age claim in 2012.
Biography
Hongo was born Kamato Kimura on the small island of Tokunoshima, home of fellow longevity claimant Shigechiyo Izumi, on 8 April 1891. Hongo gave birth to seven children (three daughters and four sons) between 1909 and 1933. She later moved to Kagoshima on KyÅ«shÅ«, where she lived with her daughter. She was considered to be the oldest person in Japan after the death of Denzo Ishisaki in 1999. Hongo attained a measure of celebrity and was the focus of some merchandise (washcloths, keyrings, phone cards, etc.) sold highlighting her longevity. She appeared on Japanese television several times.
She spent her later life in Kagoshima, KyÅ«shÅ«, and celebrated her claimed 116th birthday the month before her death from pneumonia.
Doubts about her case
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 born about 1891, and on 8 April per her family, not 16 September, and aged 112, or so, when she died, rather than 116.<ref name="google1"/> This means that Hongo was probably never the real world's oldest living person or even Japan's oldest living person.

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