Japanese woman Yone Minagawa has died at a nursing home in southwestern Japan at 114.
Ms Minagawa, who raised four sons and a daughter on her own by peddling flowers and vegetables, became the world's oldest person earlier this year.
"Her appetite had been declining recently and her energy fading . . . The death was not sudden," an official at the nursing home in Fukuchi, 520 miles southwest of Tokyo, said.
Born on January 4th, 1893, Ms Minagawa was named the world's oldest person by the Guinness Book of World Records in January following the death of Emma Faust Tillman, also 114, in the United States.
She outlived all of her children except one daughter and had seven grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren, according to the nursing home.
Japan has one of the world's longest average life spans - a factor often attributed to a healthy diet rich in fish and rice.
In 2006, Japanese women set a new record for life expectancy at 85.81 years, while men live an average of about 79 years.
AP