Hana Kimura

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Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan

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Kōtō, Tokyo, Japan

**Hana Kimura** (木村花, *Kimura Hana*, born September 3, 1997 – May 23, 2020) was a Japanese professional wrestler, most notably working for World Wonder Ring Stardom, where she was a former Artist of Stardom Champion with Kyoko Kimura and Kagetsu, while also being a former Goddess of Stardom Champion with Kagetsu and the winner of the 2019 5★Star GP. Kimura also worked for other wrestling promotions such as Pro Wrestling WAVE, Sendai Girls, JWP and Wrestle-1, where she made her professional wrestling debut.

She was a second-generation wrestler whose mother is a former professional wrestler, Kyoko Kimura. She was also a cast member on the Fuji Television and Netflix reality television series *Terrace House: Tokyo 2019–2020* which was the fifth installment of the *Terrace House* franchise.

Following a series of suicidal tweets addressing online criticism directed at her from *Terrace House* viewers, she was found dead by suicide in her apartment in Tokyo on May 23, 2020. The release of new *Terrace House* episodes was suspended as a result of Kimura's death, and Fuji TV later cancelled the season.

## Professional wrestling career

### Early career

Prior to her professional wrestling career, Kimura won the DDT Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship one time on August 21, 2005, at a live event in Tokyo, then lost the title to her mother Kyoko.

Hana was accepted in to the Wrestle-1 dojo after she passed an audition that took place in December of 2015.

### Wrestle-1 (2016–2019)

At the same month, she was announced as a round girl of the "Super Teriffic Cuties" as **HANA**. On March 30, 2016, she made her professional wrestling debut losing to her classemate Reika Saiki. She spent the rest of the year wrestling in different promotions such as Pro Wrestling WAVE and Sendai Girls.

In July, she started working in JWP, receiving her first championship shot for the JWP and Daily Sports Women's Tag Team Championship alongside Hanako Nakamori in a losing effort to Arisa Nakajima and Tsukasa Fujimoto on July 31. In September, Kimura took part in the tournament for the vacated JWP Junior Championship and Princess of Pro Wrestling Championship, where she defeated Yako Fujigasaki on September 18 to become the new champion, winning her first professional wrestling championships.

### World Wonder Ring Stardom (2016–2020)

In September 2016, Kimura began working for Stardom joining her mother's stable Oedo Tai's. On October 2, Kimura, her mother Kyoko Kimura and Kagetsu won the Artist Of Stardom Championship defeating Io Shirai, Kairi Hojo and Mayu Iwatani. On November 12, it was announced that Kimura would be joining her rookie mates to Pro Wrestling A.C.E, where she would later join the main roster. On December 28, she lost the JWP Junior and Princess of Pro Wrestling Championship to Yako Fujigasaki. On January 7, 2017, Hana, Kyoko and Kagetsu lost the Artist Of Stardom Championship to HZK, Io Shirai and Momo Watanabe. Sixteen days, Kimura defeated her mother in her retirement match. On June 21, Kimura and Kagetsu defeated Hiroyo Matsumoto and Jungle Kyona to win the Goddess of Stardom Championship. On March 9, Kimura made her debut for American promotion Ring of Honor (ROH), when she was announced as part of a tournament to crown the inaugural Women of Honor Champion losing to Sumie Sakai in the first round. In March 2019, Kimura announced that she was leaving Wrestle-1. From August 17 to August 22, 2019 Kimura took part in the 2019 5★Star GP. After a record of seven wins and one loss, Kimura advanced to the finals, where she defeated Konami to win the tournament. On October 14, Kimura unsuccessfully challenged Bea Priestley for the World of Stardom Championship. On January 4, 2020, Kimura, along with Giulia, Mayu Iwatani and Arisa Hoshiki made an appearance at New Japan Pro-Wrestling's Wrestle Kingdom 14 in Tokyo Dome, in a dark tag team match, where they lost to Iwatani and Hoshiki.

## Other ventures

Kimura joined the reality television series *Terrace House: Tokyo 2019–2020* in September 2019, appearing on the show until her death. Before her death, Kimura was set to co-star with Ena Fujita in the music video for the musician's June 2020 single "Dead Stroke".

## Personal life

Kimura was the daughter of Kyoko Kimura, also a professional wrestler. Before she was one year old, she was separated from her father. While the identity of her biological father is not publicly known, Kimura had mentioned in interviews that he was an Indonesian national and because of this she was referred to as Indonesian-Japanese. Throughout her life, Kimura was the subject of bullying because of her mixed ethnic heritage.

## Death

On May 23, 2020, it was reported that Kimura had died at the age of 22. Hours earlier, Kimura posted a potential suicide message with photos of her arms being self mutilated.

Earlier in September, Kimura had started in September on the popular Netflix reality show Terrace House, in an incident filmed in early January, a male housemate named Kai washed his clothes while her outfit that she wore at the Tokyo Dome was in the washer and then threw it in the dryer and ruined the outfit. Since that incident aired, she started to get hate messages that sent her into depression.

### Legacy and tributes

During the day of Kimura's death, the world of professional wrestling went around the world, several companies such as New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), Ring of Honor (ROH), All Elite Wrestling (AEW), Impact Wrestling (Impact), among other companies sent their condolences. During the *Double or Nothing* pay-per-view event, AEW paid tribute to Kimura and Shad Gaspard (who also died in that same week).

On the May 27 episode of WWE NXT, NXT wrestler and former Stardom wrestler Io Shirai and Mauro Ranallo paid tribute to Hana with the following phrase: "Hana was one of the most talented female wrestlers in the world, and I was looking forward to watching her grow to see how far she could go,” Io began. "I will always remember her smile that would brighten up any room she walked into. It is so important that we all love and treat each other with respect.” On May 29, Sasha Banks was wearing new ring gear when she got to the ring, but when she removed her jacket she was wearing a black armband that said "HANA" in white letters. At NXT TakeOver: In Your House, Dakota Kai sported pink hair that she confirmed was dyed as a tribute to Kimura. Also during episode of WWE RAW former Stardom wrestler Kairi Hojo would pay tribute to her in her umbrella saying "Hana-chan thank you".

On June 21, Stardom had its first event during the COVID-19 pandemic, paying tribute to Kimura before its event and all the wrestlers went out to the area surrounding the ring and kept a minute of silence, while ringing a bell 10 times. On March 31, 2021, Kyoko Kimura, Hana's mother launched a non-profit anti-bullying organization called "Remember Hana". Later that year, on May 23, Kyoko held the Hana Kimura Memorial Show in honor of her late daughter with a second tribute show taking place on May 23, 2022.

On June 14, 2022, the Japanese Diet passed a law in which "online insults" were punishable by one year in response to Kimura's online bullying, where offenders convicted of online insults can be jailed for up to one year, or fined 300,000 yen (about $2,200).

## In wrestling

* **Finishing moves**
	+ *Hydrangea* (Modified octopus stretch)
	+ *Kamagatame* (Indian deathlock)
	+ Scoop brainbuster
	+ *Tiger Lily* (Package piledriver)
* **Signature moves**
	+ Ankle lock
	+ Big boot
	+ Dropkick
	+ Kneeling figure four leglock
	+ Missile dropkick
	+ Sleeper hold
* **Nicknames**
	+ "Dangerous Flower"
* **Entrance themes**
	+ "La La La (Brazil 2014)" by Shakira feat. Carlinhos Brown (Freelance)
	+ "Internet Friends" by Knife Party (Stardom)

## Championships and accomplishments

* **Dramatic Dream Team**
	+ Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship (1 time)
* **JWP Joshi Puroresu**
	+ JWP Junior Championship (1 time)
	+ Princess of Pro-Wrestling Championship (1 time)
* **World Wonder Ring Stardom**
	+ Artist of Stardom Championship (1 time) – with Kyoko Kimura and Kagetsu
	+ Goddess of Stardom Championship (1 time) – with Kagetsu
	+ 5★Star GP (2019)
	+ Best Tag Team Award (2017) with Kagetsu
	+ Fighting Spirit Award (2019)
* **Sendai Girls**
	+ Sendai Girls Tag Team Championship Challenger Decision Tournament (2017) – with Meiko Satomura