Eiju Tsuru

Eiju Tsuru (4 February 1879 - 11 January 1990) was a Japanese supercentenarian and at the time of his death Japan's oldest man, a title he held from Shigechiyo Izumi's death on 21 February 1986 to his own death on 11 January 1990 aged 110 years, 341 days.

In his youth, he decided not to smoke or drink, a decision he abided by for his entire life. He raised eight children with his wife Shige, who passed away in 1942 aged 59. Tsuru was fond of bananas, and family attributed his longevity to "a large appetite and a Meiji era streak of stubbornness".

Tsuru farmed into his 90s, after which he moved from his home prefecture of Fukuoka to the prefecture of Nagano.

Tsuru was the last Russo-Japanese War veteran living in Japan at the time of his death. Only one veteran, Mamoru Eto (1883-1992), who died in the United States, died after him. At the time of Tsuru's death, he was the oldest Japanese man ever, a title he retained until Gengan Tonaki surpassed him in age. He was also the first Japanese man to reach the age of 110.

Upon Tsuru's death from a prolonged illness lasting two months, 109-year-old Kiichi Fujiwara became Japan's oldest man. Tsuru was survived by 15 grandchildren, 20 great-grandchildren, and an immediate family of 41 people.

References

• Obituary (available on WOP Group, but original page no longer available)

Japan's Oldest Living Man Titleholders (V • E)

Shozaburo Oda • Tokusaburo Hatsukade • Unknown • Ikumatsu Matsuura • Masakichi Kai • Goro Usuyama • Shizuo Jinjiang • Kokuzo Iwate • Eisaku Takada • Hisaharu Arai • Chojiro Goto • Yozotaro Yoshikawa • Masutaro Sato • Takataro Hiragushi • Mataichi Ono • Shotaro Tanaka • Rinzo Shimizu • Koji Onishi • Inasaku Abe • Mokotaru Osada • Eiju Tsuru • Kiichi Fujiwara • Nisaburo Matsuyama • Shimetaro Hara • Gihei Oka • Gengan Tonaki • Denzo Ishizaki • Sadayoshi Tanabe • Yukichi Chuganji • Kameni Nakamura • Minsho Ozawa • Totaro Murakami • Kohachi Shigetaka • Nijiro Tokuda • Tomoji Tanabe • Jiroemon Kimura • Jokichi Ikarashi • Sakari Momoi • Yasutaro Koide • Masamitsu Yoshida • Masazo Nonaka • Chitetsu Watanabe • Issaku Tomoe • Shojiro Shirai • Motoi Fukunishi • Mikizo Ueda • Shigeru Nakamura • Gisaburo Sonobe • Tomisaburo Wakui