Japan’s 2nd Oldest Man Found to be Mummified Corpse
- Categories: Japan, News
- Date: Jul 30, 2010 15:10 JST
- Tags: Bizarre, Crime, Fraud, Guro, Hikikomori, Obituaries, Old People, Police
The 111-year-old man recognised as Japan’s 2nd oldest is in fact a mummified corpse which died 30 years ago.
The man was born in the 32nd year of the Meiji era, or 1899 in barbarian dates, making him 111 as of 2010.
Seeing his advanced age in their records, bureaucrats at Tokyo’s Adachi ward decided to pay a visit to their ward’s oldest resident and present him with a gift in celebration of his birthday on the 29th of July.
Arriving at his residence with a police escort, they met his 81-year-old daughter, who declined their offer of a gift on his behalf, saying “Father doesn’t want to meet with anyone.”
A 53-year-old grandchild of his subsequently paid a visit to a local police station, explaining to them that “Grandfather said ‘I want to become a mummy’ and ‘I’d like to attain Buddhahood during my life’ 30 years ago and shut himself up his room.”
Police quickly moved to investigate his residence and found him still in his room – his corpse completely mummified.
Adachi officials had previously wanted to check up on the man, but had been turned away “as he didin’t want to see anyone” at that time as well.
The practice of “Sokushinbutsu,” where Buddhist monks would ritually starve themselves to death with the objective of leaving a perfectly dessicated corpse behind and thus attaining Buddhahood (and incidentally leave behind a corpse which the faithful would worship), is well documented in Japanese history, although the practice has long since died out after being banned in 1879.
On a more worldly note, police have launched an investigation after it transpired that $100,000 in pensions had been paid out to the man since he attained “Buddhahood.”
The whole incident also raises some very disturbing questions about just how much of Japan’s ancient and pension receiving population is actually still alive – notably, Japan has some of the lowest autopsy rates found anywhere in the developed world.









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The ultimate Hikikomori.
Well, I guess this case...
*sunglasses*
...Just got wrapped up.
I kind of like this man's dedication to Buddhism. While I'm not a big supporter of dedication to religion to begin with, practices like this that don't harm others are quie amazing, in my opinion. Still, if only he had died a more normal death. I'm sure it would have been more comfortable for him.
For all we know, he may have changed his mind half-way through, only to find he was too starved and feeble to call for help or move, and spent his last moments in deep regret.
:P just speculating
Kinzo?!
Mummification while still alive is probably the weirdest thing I've heard recently. For religion or not, he basically committed suicide by starvation.
Silly Japanese old man, he won't obtain enlightenment if his goal was just to wrap himself in cloth and die, and even after he died, nobody would worship him.
His kids worshiped him for the pension money. As a Buddha, he probably let them have it.
He's not Buddha, people are just fooling themselves this way.
I mean, if he'd be one, he would be invincible, know everything happening within Universe and could shoot beams of light from his forehead. I just don't see how drying yourself like Slim Jim enables that.
Sankaku is even a faster newsource than AP o.O
But buddha was fat, how can a dessicated corpse compare? :/
The original, Gautama Buddha wasn't fat. There still were many other Buddhas after him tho, until the meaning and method of original teachings wasn't completely lost in interpretations that is.
The fat one was Budai, a.k.a. Laughing Buddha, a Chinese guy practicing zen whose figurines eventually became the most popular.
Wow then there will be Mummy 4 movie the location will be Japan.
nice i learned something new good work admin
I know nothing about medicine but isn't a corpse supposed to stink or something? Or that doesn't happen if he gets mummified or w/e?
It doesn't rot, or only very slowly. Compare with dried meat.
$100,000 = a lot of otaku goodies ^_^
He just rocked modern science.
Your avatar picture is awesome.
Regarding pension I think they should do like some african countries and ask the elders to go pick up their pension themselves.
This should be policy. Really I don't care how people choose to go, but embezzling pension money is just wrong.
Around here pensions are delivered directly by postman. You won't get money without signing off, and no, you cannot have your children pick it up for you. If by some bizarre reason, you weren't home when postman came, no problem - he will be there next day.
Also, when you finally die, family gets money to organize funeral and such, so there is financial incetive to report the death.
Wow thats pretty fucked up. I cant believe no one ever thought something was up for over 30 years... thats unbelievable.
Well, by the time your 80, It's possible that the only people who still know you personally are family. If the family doesn't report the death, then no one would ever know.
by the time you're 80, all your friends and everybody you knew are dead so yeah nobody will check up on your
Thats why we ship them off to old age homes when the time comes. At least its a step up from leaving them out in the wild.
Sad, but thats how the system works.
But this guy here was living with his family.
Because it's Japan not US.
these are what we call... health-conscious dudes
unbelievable...
but true :D
Im amaze at how his body didn't crack all those years
Wouldn't mind a picture, personally.
He was starving himself...so you may as well find a picture of a skeleton and imagine it with *$(#^@($@&(#*$@($&(%^!@(#&^$@(#&$^@*
Guro filter....
yep come on people we need some FAPPING material here !
Me too o__o
Well he probably looks better than any other person being dead for so long.
http://www.magiedubouddha.com/images/prod/rituel/The-mummified-body-of-Thai-.jpg
This, however, only shows how far have people deviated from Buddha's teachings - as I recall, Buddha himself dropped this method after nearly drowning in river and realizing this shit leads nowhere.
Main idea of buddhism is avoiding extremes, so this is totally wrong.
I want to see because I'm curious if he succeded. I'm a Buddhist, and what the article didn't mention was that in this practice, the people have to remain in the lotus position after death. if they start to move before dying and mummify in a different position, they do not attain Buddahood.
Me not...
Just google "mummified bodies" images.
It's the same thing.
So, japans elderly are zombies?
*gets chainsaw ready*
In extension, Japan elderly are Buddhas. Your chainsaw won't tickle.
Will they grope schoolgirls and tear their clothes like they do in Highschool of the Dead??
They have the nirvana aura, so girls will flock to them to feel good.
In extension, Japan elderly are Buddhas. They are all in nirvana so they don't need women to feel good.
Goddamn...maybe hes still alive...I dont know how you could tell the difference between a live and dead man at 111.
I would think not eating would do the trick...
Didn't you hear about the Indian man who survives without eating or drinking?! It was circulating in the extremely retarded yellow press earlier this year.
yeah there are a heaps of people i've heard doing it. its the new craze!!
he just mummified from starvation...
no really, is that posible? well it is true that a normal corpse will swell causing the skin to break and further decompose, anyways it's a mistery how nobody stopped to think "hey now, in all this 30 years could the guy at least answer a call? i mean, if he's not letting us see him."
If person dies immediately, then the body goes through that process. But if starved over time, with the body digesting itself (muscles included) and dehydrating AND he managed to pass at the start of a Japanese summer...
Did I just explain to people how to do this?
Yeah keep forgetting about external factors in regards to what the weather was like and the state of his surroundings are when he attempted this. Thanks for the inclusion of that. Hopefully this answers (and hopefully not attempted) the question of self-dessication/mummification.
Yes you did, but don't tell us how you know how to do this...
Thus why the process is dessication leading into mummification. By intentionally starving himself, his body literally devours itself, which in turn leads into the body drying up due to loss of internal moisture. Since there's no bodily fluids circulating anymore at the moment of his death, the body just naturally mummifies.
dude that man is an otaku i swear!!!
More like a Hikkikomori?
Still props to him for attaining Buddhahood.
He's now one with Haruhi.
Purge the heretic.
He died in the lotus position in front of his Haruhi shrine. A true Haruhi devotee.
I think we are starting to deviate from the actual story too much in here...
A new path of salvation for Hikikomoris emerges.
Well, considering how many preservatives we ingest with fast food nowadays, we should expect a growing tendency of natural mummification in front of basement PCs during the next few decades.
At this rate, the purgatory will soon be empty...
Meh... I wantz happy end: gief the mummy to a shrine so the old man can be worshipped just as he wished...
So, no one noticed that those who use the Gregorian Calendar are barbarians?
yep. you're a 南蛮人. live with it.
RAWWRRRR! MEAT GOOD!
lol japan is fucking weird
parents: hey kids were going to go visit grand~pa today!
kids: YAY
... 20 minutes later
dad:hey dad why aren't you answering the door?
.... 7 minutes later (in bodys room)
dad: hey dad why arnt you talking to me?
6 minutes later....
dad:(at wife) MY DAD HATES ME HE WONT EVEN TALK TO ME!!!!!
25 years later...
dad:OMG I FIGURED IT OUT MY DAD WAS DEAD!!! i better call the police....hmmm during the commercial.. this episode of higurashi is just too interesting.....
5 years later
dad: OMG I FORGOT TO CALL THE POLICE ABOUT MY DEAD DAD!!!!
2 years later....
dad: HEY KIDS WANT TO GO VISIT GRANDMA?
that is my little scenario i just came up with in the last 20 minutes at 5 AM please enjoy it to its fullest extent
Made of win lol
...and the police will buy it.
This is almost like something out of Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society.
almost there!
today, the mind still has to go to nirvana, but tomorrow you can eternally live in cyberspace, together with everyone else.
like always, the japanese are a few steps ahead of us.
The corpse sure is in a solid state after all that time. ^_^
So he went Kinzo on their asses.
For 30 years, Krauss & Natsuhi would be jealous
lol it's just because of reviving Beatrice.
lol, that was the first thing I thought.
Couldn't have it smelled or something? I would like pictures too! It would be a plus if he were in an indian sitting position with his mouth open or something D:
lol the last paragraph was so ridiculous that I found it hilarious. Actually I am sure that many more japanese families have mummified grandparents somewhere in their houses xD
The old man did pretty good since even after 30 years he still managed to cash his checks from the government.
I bet his daughter was embezzling the money. She seems suspicious to say the least.
It would seem unlikely as they reported his death to the police.
I think that they should arrest this corpse for fraud.
If they do and he gets a life sentence, how long would the mummy sit in jail?
I would not like to share the same prison cell with a mummy. that would be freaking as hell. .__.
sounds like you plan on going to jail
Japan will never cease to amaze me... But i can't believe his daughter lived with a corpse for 30 years... What about the awful rotten smell?
You dummy, remains of the saints don't smell like rot, they smell like flowers! Think how much money his daughter saved on air refreshers for all these years!