Online Desk : A Japanese woman, recognised as the world`s oldest person by Guinness World Records, has died aged 116, reports BBC.

Tomiko Itooka died in a nursing home in the city of Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture, according to officials.

She became the oldest person in the world after Spain`s Maria Branyas Morera passed away in August 2024 at age 117.

"Ms Itooka gave us courage and hope through her long life," Ashiya`s 27-year-old mayor Ryosuke Takashima said in a statement.

"We thank her for it."

Ms Itooka was born in May 1908 – six years before World War One and the same year that the Ford Model T car was launched in the US.

She was verified as the world`s oldest person in September 2024 and was presented with the official GWR certificate on the Respect for the Aged Day, which is a Japanese public holiday celebrated annually to honour the country`s elderly citizens.

Ms Itooka, who was one of three siblings, lived through world wars and pandemics as well as technological breakthroughs.

As a student, she played volleyball and climbed the 3,067-metre (10,062-foot) Mount Ontake twice.

In her older age, she enjoyed bananas and Calpis, a milky soft drink popular in Japan, according to the mayor`s statement.

She married at 20, and had two daughters and two sons, according to Guinness.

During World War Two she managed the office of her husband`s textile factory. She lived alone in Nara after her husband died in 1979.

She is survived by one son and one daughter, and five grandchildren. A funeral service was held with family and friends, according to officials.

As of September, Japan counted more than 95,000 people who were 100 or older - 88% of whom were women.

Of the country`s 124 million people, nearly a third are 65 or older.

Brazilian nun Inah Canabarro Lucas, who was born 16 days after Itooka and is 116, is now believed to be the world`s oldest person.