THE GREAT KABUKI, THE ORIENTAL MYSTERY

Probably the most famous Japanese wrestler in USA is 'The Oriental Mystery' The Great Kabuki. I want to introduce Kabuki's fights, but in fact I hardly saw his matches in his best days. I know his unpainted face and his fights in his youth. Kabuki's real name is Akihisa Takachiho. He was a middle-rank wrestler in ALL JAPAN. Because he became a wrestler after Rikidozan's death, he didn't learn wrestling from the father of the wrestling of Japan. In short, Takachiho belonged to a young generation. He was comparatively small and his fight-style was steady but quiet. There were big wrestlers in ALL JAPAN like Baba, Tsuruta, and Tenryu, and Takachiho could not become a star wrestler.

When Takachiho was active in USA in the early 80's, his manager Gary Hart thought out the gimmick of 'The Oriental Mystery'. The Great Kabuki became a big star in USA, and he returned in triumph to Japan in 1983. At last I could see Kabuki's fights of only a few matches. The most impressive match was the fight with Tiger Jeet Singh, which was named the special dreamy match. Kabuki was a heel in USA, but he had to play a role of a baby face in Japan. But his special trick The Asian Mist was clearly a foul. I remember that Japanese fans were bewildered a little.

One of Kabuki's special features was the nunchaku performance. Nunchaku is an weapon of Okinawa Karate, and it became very famous when Bruce Lee used it in his films. But 'Kabuki' is the traditional dramatic performance in Japan, and it's not relation to Okinawa Karate. And though his style was like a Ninja, he often showed a performance of samurai sword. I wondered what his gimmick was, but probably there isn't much meaning in saying these things.

At that time Kabuki fought only a few matches in Japan, but his popularity was very good, and they say other wrestlers in ALL JAPAN were jealous of him. Afterwards he formally returned to Japan and belonged to ALL JAPAN again, but the relationship between Baba and Kabuki seemed to be not good. Kabuki wasn't treated as a star, and his pay was rather low. And then he went away from ALL JAPAN, and he was active in several parties as a veteran. They say Kabuki is operating a restaurant in Tokyo and sometimes he coaches young wrestlers.