, better known as AKINO, (born October 24, 1973 in Tokyo, Japan) is a female Japanese

Japanese people

The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...

 joshi wrestler. Billed from Honshū

Honshu

is the largest island of Japan. The nation's main island, it is south of Hokkaido across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyushu across the Kanmon Strait...

, she started late in the sport and didn't debut until the age of 24. Trained by Mariko Yoshida

Mariko Yoshida

, is a Japanese professional wrestler best known for her work with the ARSION wrestling promotion, where she was also head trainer.-Professional wrestling career:...

, she proved to have an innate ring presence and excelled at the sport.

Early career

AKINO debuted in the newly formed federation ARSION (then run by Aja Kong) as Mika Akino. In her first months she floated around and tagged with fellow rookie Ayako Hamada

Ayako Hamada

is a female professional wrestler of mixed Japanese and Mexican descent, who is currently wrestling most notably for Pro Wrestling WAVE in Japan and Shimmer Women Athletes in the United States, where she is a co-holder of the Shimmer Tag Team Championship.She is best known for winning several...

 now and again. Her most notable match was for the Queen of ARSION title, against her mentor, Yoshida. This match is considered by some to be the quintessential rookie versus veteran match of the 1990s, and both women were praised for their performance.

It wasn't long before Akino was repackaged as AKINO, and placed in the stable called "CAZAI", or Girls with Attitude. Fellow members included tag team partner Hamada, Ai Fujita, and Candy Okutsu

Candy Okutsu

, , is a Japanese former professional wrestler, perhaps best known for her brief stint as Tiger Dream, the female version of Tiger Mask.-Career:...

. The heel stable gain notoriety and popularity within ARSION. Hamada and AKINO eventually won the Twin Star of ARSION tag team championship, which set the stage for possibly both women's biggest match in 1999.

Wrestling as "HamaKINO", the two champions entered a storyline with popular tag team "LCO" (Las Cachorrus Orientales), made up of Mima Shimoda and Estuko Mita. The story culminated in a bloody brawl that was later considered one of the matches of the year. Held at the Carnival '99 show, the match skyrocketed the popularity of HamaKINO, and cemented the two women as draws for the promotion.

The group split up later, and AKINO went on to win the Sky High of ARSION title from Chapparita ASARI. Kong left ARSION after disputes with Rossy Ogawa, and joshi legend Lioness Asuka

Lioness Asuka

is a Japanese professional wrestler from Tokyo. Along with long-time tag team partner Chigusa Nagayo she formed The Crush Gals, known for their mainstream popularity in the 1980s, and the most successful women's tag team of all time.-Career:...

 took her place. Hamada left not long after, and AKINO stayed. While she never won the Queen of ARSION title, she was involved in several spotlight storylines and matches, including tagging with Asuka and competing against Michiko Ohmukai.

Leaving ARSION

After Asuka left, wrestler Yumiko Hotta took over and renamed ARSION AtoZ. In 2003, AKINO parted ways with the promotion, and declared herself a freelancer. Her mentor and friend Yoshida left AtoZ as well, as did wrestler Baby-M (at that time billed as Baby-A).

AKINO began performing with other promotions, like Jd'

JDStar

JDStar , was a women's professional wrestling promotion based in Tokyo, Japan. In the wake of the joshi puroresu boom of the early 1990s, several different groups opened with distinct approaches...

 and JWP. She also began training in mixed martial arts

Mixed martial arts

Mixed Martial Arts is a full contact combat sport that allows the use of both striking and grappling techniques, both standing and on the ground, including boxing, wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, muay Thai, kickboxing, karate, judo and other styles. The roots of modern mixed martial arts can be...

 (MMA), and competed at the LoveImpact show, on February 8, 2004. She KO'd her opponent, a middle cup tournament winner, less than a minute into the match. She also competed at the SmackGirl show, on August 5, 2004, and went all three rounds against her opponent, winning by split decision.

During this time AKINO wrestled primarily in Jd', JWP, and GAEA

GAEA Japan

Gaea Japan was a Japanese women's professional wrestling promotion. Gaea Japan (trademarked as GAEA Japan) was a Japanese women's professional wrestling promotion. Gaea Japan (trademarked as GAEA Japan) was a Japanese women's professional wrestling promotion. (Japanese female professional...

.

Forming M's Style

After leaving AtoZ, AKINO joined with three other joshi wrestlers to form a new promotion. Her longtime friend Mariko Yoshida and fellow ARSION wrestler Michiko Ohmukai joined her, and rising star Momoe Nakanishi also jumped on board. The name of their promotion, M's Style, stemmed from the fact that all four women's first names started with the letter "M".

M's Style held its first show in April 2004. At the time, the promotion was thought to be the future of joshi puroresu, and had been rumored to be working with puroresu powerhouse New Japan Pro Wrestling

New Japan Pro Wrestling

is a major professional wrestling promotion in Japan, founded by Antonio Inoki in June 1972 and owned by Yuke's since 2005, when Inoki sold the promotion. Naoki Sugabayashi is the current President of the promotion and has held that position from 2007. Owing to its TV program aired on TV Asahi, it...

. Nothing came of the partnership, and the promotion suffered another blow.

Momoe Nakanishi announced her retirement the same year, with nagging injuries being among the top reasons. Many in the joshi fan community considered this a death knell for M's Style, and expected the promotion to go under. It has stayed open. Running a show once a month, AKINO and Ohmukai still remain, with Yoshida occasionally wrestling, though she left to open Ibuki to train up the next generation of joshi wrestlers.

Present

M's Style closed in the Fall of 2006. After the final show, AKINO announced she would be taking some time off from wrestling to let a lingering neck injury heal up.

While still teaching classes at U-FILE, she has scaled her wrestling appearances back dramatically, appearing in an OZ Academy show in January 2007 and in the Jaguar Yokota

Jaguar Yokota

is a Japanese professional wrestler and later wrestling trainer, who wrestled under the name . She is widely considered one of the greatest female wrestlers of all time, and, during her heyday in the early 1980s, was considered one of the best wrestlers in the world, irrespective of...

 show on March 11, 2007.

In the mean time, she has taken up golfing and currently travels with a female golfer, Sakura, acting as her caddy while competing in tournaments herself.

One of her most notable students, who was also trained by Yoshida, is Ayumi Kurihara

Ayumi Kurihara

is a joshi puroresu wrestler who grew up around pro wrestling. Her parents' Tokyo yakiniku barbecue restaurant, "The Three Treasures of Buddha" was not only a place where wrestlers often ate, but is also a sponsor of pro wrestling events...

, who has tagged with AKINO several times and also wrestled in M's Style.

AKINO has held tag championships with Ranmaru and Tsubasa Kuragaki, and has held many singles titles as both AKINO and her heel alter-ego Noki-A.

AKINO returned in mid-2007, working primarily with Oz Academy while freelancing with Pro Wrestling WAVE and performing in special shows held by Fūka.

She is currently a member of Aja Kong's stable along with Manami Toyota

Manami Toyota

is a professional wrestler best known for her work with the All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling wrestling promotion. Following AJW's closure she has continued to work in other joshi promotions such as GAEA and NEO...

 and Hiroyo Matsumoto

Hiroyo Matsumoto

is a joshi puroresu wrestler in Japan who wrestled for Mariko Yoshida's Ibuki promotion. Emi Sakura gave her the nickname of Lady Destroyer because Hiroyo broke a wall in the Ichigaya arena during her Ice Ribbon debut...

. She will be competing with Matsumoto in June in a tag tournament for the newly-created Oz Academy Tag Team Championships.

In wrestling

• Finishing moves
  • Aki Imploder (Wrist-clutch exploder suplex)
  • Double knee backbreaker
  • Noki-A Special (Reverse Enzuigiri to the back of the opponent's head)
  • Back suplex
• Signature moves
  • Cross armbar
  • Suicide dive
  • Tornado DDT

Championships and accomplishments

• ARSION
• Sky High of ARSION (2 times)
• Twin Star of ARSION (1 time) - with Ayako Hamada
  Ayako Hamada
  is a female professional wrestler of mixed Japanese and Mexican descent, who is currently wrestling most notably for Pro Wrestling WAVE in Japan and Shimmer Women Athletes in the United States, where she is a co-holder of the Shimmer Tag Team Championship.She is best known for winning several...
  
  

• JWP Project
• JWP Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Tsubasa Kuragaki

External links

• Sky Perfect AKINO's official website, includes blog. In Japanese