JAPAN’S Umeno Sumiyama, Koume Kodama are awarded

GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS TITLE for “Oldest identical twins ever (female)” and “Oldest identical living twins (female)” at 107 years 300 days old
 
September 22, 2021:  Guinness World Records™, the global authority on record-breaking, today announces that Japan’s Umeno Sumiyama and Koume Kodama, are the world’s Oldest identical twins (living and ever/female) at 107 years, and 300 days, as of Sep. 1st 2021.  

Umeno and Koume were born on Nov. 5th 1913 as the eldest and second daughters in a family that lived in Shodo Island, Kagawa Prefecture. Of the 11 siblings, Umeno is the third and Koume is the fourth child. Twins family says they have described their childhood was just like a Japanese TV drama “Oshin” that featured a girl in Meiji period. The hardest thing at that time was being bullied because they were twins. 

After getting married, Umeno was blessed with four children and Koume, three. Umeno lives in Shodo Island, Kagawa and Koume lives in Oita. Family describes both of them as sociable and positive people, and even though they were unable to catch up with each other often, except at weddings and funerals, from around 70 years old, they began traveling together for some Buddhist pilgrimages every year. 

 They both now live in separate rest homes, Umeno from this April and Koume since age of 106. This record was verified by the family applying to Guinness World Records. The twins were well aware of previous record holders, Kin Narita and Gin Kanie, and had joked about reaching their age, although not expecting to really break it.  When Umeno received the certificate, she was in tears of joy. Koume, on the other hand, may not have fully comprehended what the official certificate was about, but her family is pleased that Koume's achievement was recognized, given that Koume often talked about Guinness World Records in the past.

 Under the situation of Covid-19, the certificate was sent to their rest homes and handed to them by caretakers. 
 Previous record holders of oldest identical twins ever(female) and oldest identical living twins(female) were Kin Narita and Gin Kanie (Japan) at age of 107 years old and 175 days.  

The title for the oldest person living currently belongs to Kane Tanaka, who is now at the age of 118. The oldest person ever(male) is Jiroemon Kimura (Japan), who was born on 19 April 1897 and passed away aged 116 years 54 days on 12 June 2013.

The oldest person ever to have lived was Jeanne Louise Calment (France) who lived to 122 years and 164 days.