5-Star Book Reviews

Welcome back to my coverage of Jushin Liger’s books. So far in this series there hasn’t been all that much in the way of juicy gossip or scandalous revelations, but this time we get closer to such things than before. This section covers a five-year-or-so period from 2004 to around 2009. This is an important period in NJPW’s chronology as it goes over what is widely known as the company’s Dark Age (Liger himself also acknowledges it as such). This period is defined by backstage chaos, personnel and structural changes that leave wrestlers caught in the crossfire, significant management changes, and growing internal strife, all of which Liger responds to with a mix of personal recollections and carefully curated responses that don’t rock the boat too much. Liger also opens up about the death of someone very close to him, which shows us more of the man behind the mask. Then another big story will show Liger’s darker side, and I don’t mean his evil alter ego.

You can read part 1 here, parts 2 & 3 here, parts 4 & 5 here parts 6 & 7 here, part 8 here, part 9 here, and part 10 here.

Welcome back to my coverage of Jushin Liger’s books. Apologies for the delay in writing these; I’ve been dealing with a sick parent and couldn’t find much time to get down to write these. Still, if you’re still coming back, thank you for your continued support. This time around we’re going to cover a two-year period between the spring of 2000 and 2002. This period saw Liger navigate a turbulent New Japan and a turbulent wider wrestling industry. Not only was New Japan going down the Inokism path but its business was also affected by the NOAH Exodus and the departures of both Keiji Muto and Riki Choshu. Liger, ever the company man, tries to solve problems and quell unrest, even at the cost of his own wellbeing. Then again, that it perhaps one reason why he’s regarded as such a legend: he wasn’t one to refuse which led him to compete in new environments and fare far better than most people expected.

You can read part 1 here, parts 2 & 3 here, parts 4 & 5 here parts 6 & 7 here, part 8 here, and part 9 here.

Welcome back to my coverage of Jushin Liger’s books. This section will cover the final chapters of his first book, going from late 1996 to early 2000. Liger will give us his thoughts on a dream match with another masked legend, his opinions on the next generations of junior heavyweights, his role in creating a new title, and a few minor anecdotes about some backstage or “curtain-unveiling” incidents. Liger has made it clear thus far that he isn’t one to rock the boat and make strong claims, but he does dance around this by recalling his observations from the time.

You can read part 1 here, parts 2 & 3 here, parts 4 & 5 here parts 6 & 7 here, and part 8 here.

Welcome back to my coverage of Jushin Liger’s three-book autobiography. We’re still in the first book and today we’ll cover a period of about two years, from the start of 1995 to the end of 1996. A lot happens to Liger during this period: he suffers an injury that sidelines him for almost a full year, he discovers he has a brain tumor, and his booking skills are put to the test in another ambitious junior heavyweight gambit. How does he deal with all of these challenges? Read on to find out.

You can read part 1 here, parts 2 & 3 here, parts 4 & 5 here, and parts 6 & 7 here.

Welcome back to my coverage of Jushin Liger’s autobiography. You’re in for a treat this time as we get two chapters covering important topics: Liger’s thoughts on other wrestlers and his career magnum opus the 1994 Super J Cup. Many of the people to wrestle Liger around this period and in the J Cup itself would go on to become legends and highly influential figures in the business: Eddy Guerrero, The Great Sasuke, Ultimo Dragón, and Chris Benoit, just to name a few. We’ve heard these men’s opinions of wresting in NJPW and Liger before, and now we get the inverse. Also, Liger reveals one of the secret masterminds behind the J Cup, someone who, up to this point went uncredited despite playing such a pivotal role in putting that tournament together.

You can read part 1 here, parts 2 & 3 here, and parts 4 & 5 here.

Welcome back to my coverage of Jushin Liger’s books. Today we’ll cover Liger’s post-excursion period back in New Japan, the things he goes through to improve and distinguish himself from his peers, and how he became the Beast God of Thunder. Because there will be coverage of both periods of his career I’ll refer to him as both his real name “Yamada” and then “Liger” once he dons his costume. We’ll also get a few more stories about his interactions with specific people, one or two shoot fights, and a brief glimpse at his first major rivalry which ended prematurely due to an industry-wide event that was mostly associated with rival All Japan but, as it turns out, hit New Japan as well.

You can read part 1 here and parts 2 and 3 here.

Welcome back to my coverage of Jushin Liger’s books. This next section will cover two chapters/periods: his debut under his real name of Keiichi Yamada and his foreign excursions to the United Kingdom and Canada. Throughout all of this we will also be treated to some anecdotes and backstage stories of his interactions with some very important people, including Hulk Hogan, Antonio Inoki, and Akira Maeda. He also discusses his experiences of the UWF Exodus, his duties as a gofer for the foreigners, a case in which Inoki challenged him to think critically, and a few lighthearted stories of pranks and pastimes that wrestlers engaged in when they had nothing else to do. Also for this section I will be referring to him as “Yamada” as he was still several years away from donning his famous Beast God gimmick and costume.

You can read part 1 here.

Jushin Liger is one of the most famous masked wrestlers of all time. He revolutionized pro wrestling with his quick, athletic style and inspired an entire generation of wrestlers. Finn Balor/Prince Devitt once called him “timeless” and rightfully so. He won junior heavyweight/cruiserweight gold on three separate continents, has wrestled some of the most venerated wrestlers of the past four decades including Eddy Guerrero, Chris Jericho, The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, Christopher Daniels, Fit Finlay, Bryan Danielson, Rey Mysterio, AJ Styles, Kevin Steen, Mitsuharu Misawa and PAC. Hell, he only had one match in WWE yet he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2020. Yes, you can argue that was a publicity stunt but the general consensus is that Liger is a more or less universally-respected veteran who left an indelible mark on the wrestling business. And now we’re going to see things from his perspective:

The Autobiography of Jyushin “Thunder” Liger*

Part One, published July 15, 2017
Part Two, published October 25, 2017
Part Three, published March 20, 2020

Welcome back to my coverage of Akira Hokuto’s books. This is the final entry as we will be going over Hokuto seemingly tying up as many loose ends as possible. It’ll cover her wedding, one of her final big matches, and then we get into a series of thoughts and recollections. Here Hokuto gives some of her thoughts on various people around her and some of her peers, and then we’ll get into a series of testimonies from many people about what they think of Hokuto. Not only will this include several of her fellow AJW wrestlers, but also some journalists, her mother, her noted adversary Shinobu Kandori, and even Antonio Inoki himself will make a cameo. Let’s get to it.

You can read part 1 here, part 2 here, part 3 here, part 4 here, part 5 here, part 6 here, part 7 here, part 8 here, part 9 here, part 10 here, and part 11 here.

Welcome back to my coverage of Akira Hokuto’s books. This section will cover an important event in her life: her trip to North Korea for the infamous Collision in Korea event. This event has been covered already but given how special that event was, it’s always nice to see it from more perspectives. Aside from this serving as a litmus test for the state of Hokuto’s wrestling ability, it also led to a major development in her life as she met her future husband Kensuke Sasaki between matches. Once they became an item they drew plenty of new eyes: for a time Sasaki & Hokuto were a high-profile celebrity couple in Japan. These two events are inextricably linked and, by the end of this section, Hokuto and Sasaki will be as well.

You can read part 1 here, part 2 here, part 3 here, part 4 here, part 5 here, part 6 here, part 7 here, part 8 here, part 9 here, and part 10 here.

Welcome back to my coverage of Akira Hokuto’s books. In this one we’ll go over the first part of Hokuto’s second book WHY AKIRA HOKUTO IS HATED. This book starts off where her autobiography BLOOD SOAKED CORONATION ended and goes until the end of 1995. This is a busy period for Hokuto as it includes several big events in her life: the AJW Tokyo Dome event Big Egg Wrestling Universe, the Collision in Korea event, her meeting future husband Kensuke Sasaki, and much more. It also includes testimonials from many people including her AJW peers, wrestling journalists, her mom, and Antonio Inoki for some reason. Needless to say, this, too, should make for an interesting journey.

You can read part 1 here, part 2 here, part 3 here, part 4 here, and part 5 here, part 6 here, part 7 here, part 8 here, and part 9 here.

Welcome back to my coverage of Akira Hokuto’s books. This will be a shorter section as it will conclude Hokuto’s 1994 autobiography BLOOD SOAKED CORONATION. There are a few loose ends that she tries to tie up here, including another tour of Mexico that sees her don a mask and new persona, a brief encounter with one of the first pro wrestlers in Japan, and what is once again framed as her retirement match only for plans to change again. I swear, either Hokuto herself or someone in her immediate orbit must be a Terry Funk mark because talks about retirement almost as much as he did. But even with this book closing on yet another big match, this is far from the end with her since there’s another book to cover once this one concludes.

You can read part 1 here, part 2 here, part 3 here, part 4 here, part 5 here, part 6 here, part 7 here, and part 8 here.

Welcome back to my coverage of Akira Hokuto’s books. This time around we’re looking at the fallout from AJW Dream Slam I and Hokuto’s legendary match with judoka Shinobu Kandori. As mentioned last time, that match was the most famous part of her career, but it came at a serious cost to the woman herself. Yet despite her initial reactions to her post-match pain and injuries, Hokuto’s star power increases from there. That’s what we’ll look at here: the rest of Hokuto’s 1993. We’ll look at the other big matches she competes in, her next round of injuries and surgeries, and how she deals with (what is presumed at the time to be) her actual retirement in December.

You can read part 1 here, part 2 here, part 3 here, part 4 here, part 5 here, part 6 here, and part 7 here.

Welcome back to my coverage of Akira Hokuto’s books. This next section is the one I’ve been looking forward to the most: Hokuto versus Shinobu Kandori from AJW Dream Slam I in 1993. It’s one of the greatest pro wrestling matches of all time. It’s also the match that led to her autobiography’s namesake, “Blood-soaked Coronation/Crown of Blood”. In his first book, Rossy Ogawa described this as “the clash of the century”. When I first saw it I thought it was hella fun and have it ****3/4. But then I rewatched it and it just got better each time. Now, not only is it a sure-fire ***** epic, it’s quite possibly the best women’s wrestling match of all time and one of the best matches ever, period. It has topped many a list of GOAT matches and it cemented Hokuto as a legendary performer. It’s also one of the most physically intense matches I’ve ever seen: both women threw live rounds at each other and seemed to wrestle with genuine malice. Up to this point much of the talk around this match came from limited sources like the Rossy Ogawa-Fumi Saito-Dave Meltzer pipeline and some online chatter here and there. Now, though, we get Hokuto’s thoughts on the match from the woman herself.

You can read part 1 here, part 2 here, part 3 here, part 4 here, part 5 here, and part 6 here.

This next section will cover a short but important period in Akira Hokuto’s career: her first trip to Mexico. Foreign excursion is an integral part of many a Japanese wrestler’s career, and has been an institutional expectation for decades. The vast majority of Japanese wrestlers spent anywhere from several months to a few years abroad learning how to wrestle different styles and, more importantly, how to communicate with audiences without knowing the local language and thus being forced to express oneself in other means. This is a crucial skill for wrestlers as nonverbal artists, but for Akira Hokuto it was something of a concerning affair. In the last section she was approaching this excursion with mixed feelings as she had been told that those departing “weren’t needed”. Little did she know that this first trip would end up having influence on her career.

You can read part 1 here, part 2 here, part 3 here, part 4 here, and part 5 here.

Welcome back to my coverage of Akira Hokuto’s books. This next section will cover lots of ground, though not necessarily by my choice. So far Hokuto has been fairly consistent with covering her life and career but this next section is where things get murky. Hokuto leaves out a lot in this next part so we’ll go from late 1987 to early 1992. This will be the last section in which we look at Akira Hokuto’s books from the dual perspectives of pre-gimmick Hisako and Hokuto since this is where the two truly become one. Here we’ll go over Hisako Uno’s return from her near-fatal neck injury, how she accepted the company’s initial response to her pleas to return, how she eventually made her way back into the ring, and how she transformed into the wrestler known as Akira Hokuto.

You can read part 1 here, part 2 here, part 3 here, and part 4 here.

This next section will cover the most harrowing and challenging part of Akira Hokuto’s life: her terrifying neck injury. In many ways that moment still hangs overhead overshadowing her more legitimate accomplishments: to this day there’s talk from those who vaguely recall specific details about “that one girl who broke her neck taking a second-rope Tombstone”. Well that girl is Hisako Uno before she’s rechristened. This section will be filled with her own recollections of her injury (what little she can remember), how doctors saved her life, and how she came so close to ending her own life as well. Hokuto has been very open and straightforward thus far and that won’t change as we cross this particular bridge.

You can read part 1 here part 2 here, and part 3 here.

As Akira Hokuto/Hisako Uno slowly makes her way up the ranks she becomes more familiar with the secret truth of the world of joshi wrestling: it’s a cruel and unforgiving industry. In this section we’ll go over three key happenings that play a role in Hokuto’s growth as a person and as a wrestler. First, a sudden and unexpected loss shakes her belief in wrestling. Then things turn positive as she wins some awards/titles. Lastly, we’ll close with another negative as she describes the atmosphere around her darken. Through Hokuto’s words we’ll get a glimpse into just how rough life was for these young women as they fought and clawed over each chance at success.

You can read part 1 here and part 2 here.

Last time Akira Hokuto found herself at a critical juncture in her life: deciding on whether to pursue professional wrestling. This section will follow and will introduce her first challenge as part of that life path: her application, auditions, and initial life as a trainee. Here we’ll see the world of zenjo from a trainee’s perspective and through Hokuto’s first experiences we’ll get a sample of what that life was like. If you’ve followed my reviews of male wrestlers’ books then you’ll have a vague idea how strict, difficult, and regimented trainees’ lives were during the 80s and 90s. So now let’s see if women’s trainees had it easier, harder, or just as rough.

You can read part 1 here.

After covering five of the biggest names in Japanese men’s wrestling (and one incredibly important support player) I figured I’d give the women a chance and cover some joshi books as well. After all, I enjoy great wrestling regardless of gender and there’s a big wide world of outstanding, industry-changing wrestling led by the women of AJW and later its splinter promotions. But picking a starting point for this wasn’t easy. Compared to men’s wrestling, far fewer books have been written by, or asked of, female wrestlers in Japan. I’ve tried hunting down as much as I possibly could and asked around wherever possible but even with what I’ve managed to buy, the options are still fewer and farther between.

Most of the books I’ve picked up on women’s wrestling are compilations of interviews written by current or former wrestling journalists. These books are interesting but still feel like they merely scratch the surface of what happened in AJW during its prime. The other main source of info on joshi is a dubious one, that being Hiroshi “Rossy” Ogawa, who was, depending on whom you ask, anything from a lackey for the Matsunaga Brothers to the secret mastermind behind AJW’s survival up to its bankruptcy in 1997. In reading Rossy’s books it’s clear he still has a strong passion for women’s wrestling yet at the same time he’s the farthest thing from objective in how he describes certain things and certain people. The one joshi book I tried the hardest to find is Aja Kong’s 1996 autobiography, which cannot be found online and apparently has been out of print for years. Sadly my hopes of finding a preserved copy somewhere in Japan proved fruitless, though not for a lack of trying.

So after buying what I could online and bringing in a massive haul from the biggest wrestling store in Japan, Toudoukan Shop, I managed to pick up something special: the two books written by The Dangerous Queen herself, Akira Hokuto.

Akira Hokuto is perhaps one of the most unappreciated wrestlers of her time whose legacy has benefitted tremendously from tape-trading and her matches being uploaded to the internet. Most people to discover 1990s AJW usually do so by way of spot queen Manami Toyota, legendary monster Aja Kong, or literal Oriental Bitches Etsuko Mita and Mima Shimoda. But when it comes to exuding star power, overcoming debilitating injuries, and being an absolute menace in the ring, few come close to Hokuto. Though her initial in-ring career was short, barely reaching a full ten years, she reached incredible heights that either rivaled or in some ways surpassed what her more famous predecessors achieved. She is the woman who infamously took a second-rope Tombstone Piledriver, broke her neck, and continued the match holding her head in place with one hand. In another instance she botched a dive, tore her leg open, and refused medical intervention because she wanted to finish the match. She even had AJW’s 1994 Tokyo Dome show built around her teasing a potential retirement. In a time when female audiences were dwindling Hokuto was one of the main forces behind joshi’s shift towards male viewers and her wrestling moving away from being segregated by the audience’s gender.

However, Akira Hokuto’s reputation isn’t as rosy as all that. In the ring she was incredible. But backstage was…another story. Stories have gone around of Hokuto being selfish and hard to deal with backstage. Jabroniville, BoD’s resident joshi expert, once summarized her reputation as her being “NOT FUN to have around at times”. That’s where these books come in: help understand reports and rumors with a bit more context from the woman herself.

She was one of those wrestlers who achieved wider appeal…and her story is one of the most cathartic that I’ve ever read. This is especially true since Hokuto overcame not just injuries and the brutal lifestyle of women’s professional wrestler, but she also endured such a harsh and depressing childhood that it makes the sight of her actually smiling all the more meaningful.

Akira Hokuto Autobiography: Blood Soaked Coronation, published August 1, 1994; and
Why Akira Hokuto Is Hated, published December 20, 1995

BLOODSOAKED is Hokuto’s primary autobiography and covers everything up to mid-1994 while HATED focuses more on her personal life leading up to her marriage to Kensuke Sasaki and includes a few career anecdotes as well. I may also include some text from supplementary joshi resources as well if needed.