World's oldest person dies in Japan at age of 117 years

A Japanese woman who held the title of world's oldest living person for seven months has died.

She died of old age, after having been hospitalized since January, as the third oldest person ever to have lived, according to modern standards of evaluation.

Nabi Tajima died at the age of 117 in a hospital on Saturday evening in the town of Kikai in southern Japan, town official Susumu Yoshiyuki confirmed.

Tajima had seven sons and two daughters, who gave her more than 160 descendants. 

She became the world's oldest living person in September, after the death of Jamaica's Violet Brown, who also lived to the age of 117. 

Video that aired on Japanese television showed Tajima moving her hands to the beat of music played on traditional Japanese instruments at a ceremony to mark the achievement.

The age of 117 has appeared to be a pattern for individuals living the longest, to date.

Her record, which she held for just under one year, was verified before her death by Gerontology Research Group, which is a US-based company. 

That same organization has now said that another Japanese woman, Chiyo Miyako, is the world's oldest living person in its records.

Yoshida lives south of Tokyo in Kanagawa prefecture, and is due to turn 117 in 10 days. 

Guinness certified 112-year-old Masazo Nonaka of northern Japan as the world's oldest living man earlier this month.

The record-keeping organization was planning to formally recognize Tajima as the world's oldest living person, before her passing.  

Tajima was born on August 4, 1900, making her exactly 117 years, 260 days old when she died. 

She reportedly had more than 160 descendants, including great-great-great grandchildren. 

Her town of Kikai is in Kagoshima prefecture on Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan's four main islands. 

Prior to Tajima and Brown, Guinness World Records had named Emma Martina Luigia Morano of Vercelli, Italy, the world's oldest living woman, and also person, until her death at the age of 117, which Guinness learned of and shared in article dated April 15, 2017. 

Born on November 29, 1899, Morano was the last known person to die who was born in the 19th century. - Daily Mail