{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}

| birth_place = Wajiro Village<br />(now [[Higashi-ku, Fukuoka|Higashi-ku]], [[Fukuoka]] Prefecture), [[Empire of Japan|Japan]]

| nationality = Japanese

{{Nihongo|'''Kane Tanaka'''|田中カ子|Tanaka Kane|née Ota}} (born 2 January 1903) is a Japanese [[supercentenarian]], who (at age {{Age in years and days|1903|1|2}}<ref name=nhk>{{cite news|date=2021-01-02|title=World's oldest woman celebrates 118th birthday|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210107042042/https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20210102_11/|work=[[NHK World-Japan]]|access-date=21 January 2021}}</ref>) is the world's [[List of the verified oldest people|oldest verified living person]], since the death of Chiyo Miyako on 22 July 2018. Tanaka is the third-oldest verified person ever (behind [[Jeanne Calment]] and [[Sarah Knauss]]) and oldest verified Japanese person ever.<ref name=oldestjapanese>{{Cite web|title=117-year-old granny sets new record as Japan's oldest ever person|url=https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2020/09/5e5c26158954-tanaka-sets-new-japan-age-record-at-117-years-261-days.html|access-date=2020-09-21|website=Kyodo News+}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=McCurry|first=Justin|date=2020-09-21|title=Woman, 117, marks becoming Japan's oldest ever person with cola and boardgames|work=[[The Guardian]]|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/21/woman-117-marks-becoming-japans-oldest-ever-person-with-cola-and-boardgames|access-date=2020-09-21|issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

Kane Tanaka, née Ota, was born on 2 January 1903 in the village of Wajiro (now part of [[Higashi-ku, Fukuoka|Higashi-ku]], [[Fukuoka]]), on the southern island of [[Kyushu]],<ref name=asahi-20180727/> the third daughter and seventh child of her parents, Kumayoshi and Kuma Ota.<ref name="guinness-2019">{{cite web |last=Senda |first=Masakazu |url=https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2019/3/worlds-oldest-person-confirmed-as-116-year-old-kane-tanaka-from-japan |title=World's oldest person confirmed as 116-year-old Kane Tanaka from Japan |work=[[Guinness World Records]] |date=9 March 2019 |access-date=11 March 2019}}</ref><ref name="nikkei">{{Cite web|url=https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXMZO54012990S0A100C2CR8000/|title=最高齢田中さん117歳に 戦争、病越え5時代生きる|work=[[The Nikkei]]|language=ja|date=2 January 2020|access-date=21 October 2020}}</ref> Kane was born prematurely and raised on breast milk.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://mainichi.jp/articles/20180728/k00/00m/040/039000c |script-title=ja:田中カ子さん１１５歳「-死ぬ気全然せんです」 |language=ja |trans-title=Japan's oldest woman, Kanako Tanaka, at 115: "I do not feel like dying at all" |newspaper=[[Mainichi Shimbun]] |first=Masashi |last=Hoda |date=27 July 2018 |access-date=10 November 2018 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> Kane's early childhood was during the last years of the [[Meiji period]], which ended when she was nine, in 1912.<ref name="asahi">{{Cite news|url=https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASM4W64ZYM4WTIPE01X.html|title=明治から生きる１１６歳描く夢 令和も「長生きしたい」|newspaper=[[The Asahi Shimbun]]|language=ja|date=30 April 2019|access-date=21 October 2020}}</ref> Kane married her cousin Hideo Tanaka in 1922, with whom she had two sons and two daughters.<ref name="hochi">{{cite web|url=https://hochi.news/articles/20190325-OHT1T50158.html|title=５つ目の元号を迎える"歴史の生き証人"世界最高齢１１６歳田中カ子さん、願うのは「みんなが幸せな時代」|work=[[Sports Hochi]]|language=ja|access-date=22 October 2020}}</ref> The couple also adopted a third daughter during their marriage, the second daughter of Hideo's sister.<ref name="children">{{cite news |url=https://metro.co.uk/2020/01/02/worlds-oldest-living-person-celebrates-117th-birthday-11990707/ |title=The oldest person alive is celebrating her 117th birthday today by sucking into a bowl of strawberries and cream|work=[[Metro (British newspaper)|Metro]]|first=Jane|last=Wharton |date=2 January 2020 |access-date=7 September 2020}}</ref><ref name="guinness-2019"/> Kane's eldest daughter died shortly after birth and her second daughter died at the age of one in 1947, while her adoptive daughter died in 1945 at the age of 23 of an unspecified illness.<ref name="nikkei"/><ref name="asahi"/><ref name="children 2">{{Cite news|last=Tokyo|first=Richard Lloyd Parry|title=Number of Japanese centenarians surges to record 80,000|work=[[The Times]]|url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/number-of-centenarians-tops-80-000-for-first-time-rcgpndzt0|access-date=2020-09-18|issn=0140-0460}}</ref> The couple worked in a store selling {{transl|ja|[[shiruko]]}} and {{transl|ja|[[udon]]}} noodles.<ref name=GWR116>{{cite web|url=https://www.guinnessworldrecords.jp/news/2019/3/116-year-old-kane-tanaka-is-officially-confirmed-as-the-oldest-person-living-563017/|title=福岡在住の田中カ子さんが、116歳66日で世界最高齢としてギネス世界記録に認定|author=Masakazu Senda|publisher=Guinness World Records|language=ja|access-date=January 16, 2021}}</ref><ref name="Shincho">{{cite web|url=https://www.dailyshincho.jp/article/2019/08310800/?all=1&page=1|title=45歳ですい臓がん、103歳で大腸がんを克服！ 世界最長寿・田中力子さん116歳|work=Daily Shincho|language=ja|access-date=January 16, 2021}}</ref> Kane's husband was later drafted into the military service, which lasted from 1937 to 1939; one of her sons was captured towards the end of [[World War II]], as he also served in the military, and was held prisoner in Siberia before being released and returning home in 1947.<ref name="children 2"/>

After World War II, the couple continued working in the store, with Kane converting to [[Christianity]] under the influence of pastors stationed by the United States military.<ref name="nikkei"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.christianpress.jp/tanakakane0921/|title=国内の歴代最高齢 １１７歳の田中カ子さん 記憶に焼きつく祈る姿|author=Naoko Sakamoto|work=Christian Press|language=ja|date=2020-09-21|access-date=2020-11-12}}</ref> Retiring from working at their store at 63, Kane traveled to the United States in the 1970s to visit her relatives in California and Colorado.<ref name=asahi-20180727>{{cite news |url=https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASL7W3QJRL7WTIPE00K.html |script-title=ja:国内最高齢１１５歳、入所者励ます「頑張りんしゃい」 |language=ja |trans-title=At 115, the oldest man in Japan advises citizens to "try hard" |newspaper=[[Asahi Shimbun]] |first=Toshihiro |last=Kashiwagi |date=27 July 2018 |access-date=10 November 2018}}</ref><ref name="SDUT">{{cite news |url=http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-113-year-old-kane-tanaka-supercentenarian-2016may06-story.html |title=San Marcos couple celebrate aunt's 113th year |newspaper=[[The San Diego Union-Tribune]] |first=Linda |last=McIntosh |date=6 June 2016 |access-date=6 August 2018}}</ref> <!--Kane opened up a flower shop in 1970--> Her husband died in 1993 at the age of 90, after 71 years of marriage.<ref name="nikkei"/> Kane has been living in a nursing home in Higashi-ku, Fukuoka since September 2018, and was reportedly still in good health on her 118th birthday.<ref name=nhk/><ref name=times>{{cite news |url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/07/26/national/japans-oldest-person-chiyo-miyako-dies-117/#.W1naweSWy70 |title=Japan's oldest person Chiyo Miyako dies at 117 |agency=Kyodo |work=[[The Japan Times]] |date=27 July 2018 |access-date=26 July 2018}}</ref> She occasionally plays [[Reversi|Othello]] and takes short walks in the facility's hallways. Her hobbies include [[calligraphy]] and solving [[arithmetic|arithmetic problems]].<ref name=times/> She has five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.<ref name="children 2"/>

On 9 March 2019, Tanaka was officially presented with the "World's Oldest Living Person" and "World's Oldest Living Woman" titles by the [[Guinness World Records]], verifying her longevity claim.<ref name=GWR116 /> On 19 September 2020, she broke the record of longest-lived Japanese person ever, as well as the third-oldest person ever in the world, after surpassing [[List of Japanese supercentenarians#Nabi Tajima|Nabi Tajima]]’s age at the time of her death of 117 years, 260 days.<ref name=oldestjapanese />

* [https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/nation-and-world/worlds-oldest-person-dies-at-117-now-115-year-old-is-oldest/ ''Las Vegas Review-Journal'' World’s oldest person dies at 117, now 115-year-old is oldest]