Kinomura Masao

Kinomura Masao - 木ノ村 政雄(born June 30, 1941 - May 24, 2010) was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Enbetsu, Hokkaido. He made his debut in March 1958 and wrestled for Miyagino stable. His highest rank was makushita 20 and he retired in September 1964.

## **Early Life**

Masao Kimura was born on June 30, 1941, in Enbetsu, Hokkaido. After graduating Saku Junior High School he attended Hokkaido Teshio High School. He later dropped out of high school and joined Yoshibayama Dojo (later renamed Miyagino Stable). He decided to take up sumo to build his body for Western-style professional wrestling.

## **Career**

He made his professional debut in March 1958 under the shikona "Kinomura" (木ノ村), a direct modification of his surname. From July 1958 to January 1959, he wrestled under the shikona "Tatsueyama" (龍栄山) before switching to "Teshionishiki" (天塩錦) in March 1959. However, after no progression up the ranks, he was given the prestigious shikona "Arauma" (荒馬) which had been used by multiple sekitori previously. After the shikona change, he was promoted to sandanme in November 1960, however, he was unable to establish himself as a sandanme regular until September 1961. In September 1962, he reverted back to his first shikona of Kinomura and was promoted to makushita in January 1963. He was promoted to a career-best makushita 20 in January 1964, however, he finished with a poor 1-6 record in this tournament. In September 1964 he decided to quit professional sumo, considering that it would be harder the higher up the divisions he went.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

### **Professional Wrestling Career**

He debuted in 1965 in the old Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance against Sarukichi Takasakiyama and was a protege of Toyonobori. He wrestled under the name "Rusher Kimura" (ラッシャー木村). Toyonobori, Isao Yoshiwara, Kimura, Antonio Inoki, Hiro Matsuda, Masa Saito and others formed Tokyo Pro Wrestling. Kimura did not compete much in the upper cards, but in the lower cards he served as debut opponent for future rival, Haruka Eigen, with whom he would have the longest-running fixture in puroresu from 1981 to 2003. Their last match until then happened on January 31, 1967, a win by Kimura.

When Tokyo Pro Wrestling closed down in 1967, Kimura joined Toyonobori and Yoshiwara in creating yet another larger promotion. He went on to wrestle for the International Wrestling Enterprise where he won the IWA World Heavyweight Championship on 5 different occasions, the IWA World Tag Team Championship twice, and the TWWA World Tag Team Championship. He later joined New Japan Pro Wrestling in 1981 where he wrestled up until 1984. He then spent a brief spell in the Universal Wrestling Federation. He then joined All Japan Pro Wrestling in 1984 where he wrestled mainly in the mid-card. When Mitsuharu Misawa broke away from All Japan to form Pro Wrestling Noah, Kimura jumped to a new Japanese promotion for the seventh and final time. Kimura's last match was a tag team win with Momota over Eigen and Kishin Kawabata on March 1, 2003.

### **Death**

He died on May 24, 2010, at a hospital in Tokyo due to pulmonary aspiration. He was 68 years old.

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 138-148/286 (40 basho)
* **Makushita:** 37-40/77 (11 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 39-31/70 (10 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 57-66/123 (16 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 5-11/16 (2 basho)

## **Shikona History**

* Kinomura (1958.03 - 1958.05)
* Tatsueyama (1958.07 - 1959.01)
* Teshionishiki (1959.03 - 1960.05)
* Arauma (1960.07 - 1962.07)
* Kinomura (1962.09 - 1964.09)

## **Gallery**

An undated picture of Kinomura during his time in makushita
## **Sources**

* Kinomura Masao Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Kinomura Masao Rikishi Information