Chuganji, who was born in Fukuoka Prefecture, graduated from a technical school in early 1900s and worked as a silkworm breeder, instructor in the agricultural specialty, as a bank employee, and community welfare officer. He had 4 sons and one daughter, who was 74 years old at the time of his death and the only living child, 7 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. He did not like to eat vegetables but liked beef, pork and chicken, and daily ate toffee and drank a glass of milk and the occasional apple juice and only drank alcohol in moderation (and believed that to be the secret to his long life). During the last years of his life, he had failing eye sight and was bedridden.