Kendo Nagasaki
Encyclopedia
Kendo Nagasaki is a professional wrestling
stage name
, used as a gimmick of that of a Japan
ese Samurai
warrior
with a mysterious past and even supernatural
powers of hypnosis
. The name derives from the modern martial art of Japanese fencing
(Kendo
), and Nagasaki is the name of a city on the south-western coast of Kyūshū
, site of the second use of the atomic bomb
.
wrestler Peter Thornley
who made his name in ITV
's World of Sport
. This version of the Nagasaki character dates back to November 1964. and became a household name in Britain after his TV debut in 1971. He also toured Japan in 1968 (under the alternative ringname Mr Guillotine) and North America in 1972, wrestling for Stu Hart
's Stampede Wrestling
where he held the promotion's North American title and Don Owen
's Pacific Northwest Wrestling
. Back home in Britain, he achieved even greater fame due to his 1975-1977 feud with the tag team of future mutual archenemies Big Daddy
and Giant Haystacks, as well as his December 1977 televised voluntary unmasking ceremony.
After retiring in 1978, he briefly came back in 1981 before returning more permanently in 1986 as lead heel of All Star Wrestling
during their brief two years of TV coverage. This triggered a second period of major success continuing even after the end of wrestling on ITV
until Thornley retired again in 1993. Since that time, he has made further comebacks with All Star Wrestling in 2000-2001 and LDN Wrestling in 2008.
also used a variation of the gimmick in the United States during the early 1980s. Before adopting the gimmick, Sakurada, like Thornley, had wrestled for Stampede and held the North American title there. This version of Nagasaki would wrestle in the American Wrestling Association
, Florida Championship Wrestling (where he was managed by James J. Dillon
) and Continental Wrestling Federation before going on to wrestle on WCW
television, changing his ring name to The Dragonmaster and joining the J-Tex Corporation
stable.
Like Thornley, Sakurada wore a Kendo mein
to the ring. Unlike the British original, Sakurada wore face paint instead of a mask and carried a kendo stick rather than a sword. Sakurada also used Asian mist as part of his repertoire.
Also in the late 1970s, wrestler Bill Clarke appeared on shows by UK independent promoter Sandor Kovaks as a version of Kendo Nagasaki modelled directly on Thornley's character. Following considerable legal action by Thornley, Clarke was later renamed as King Kendo but retained the Kendo helmet, sword, cape and striped mask. In this guise, Clarke would later wrestle Thornley in a series of loser-lose-mask battles of the Kendos for All Star Wrestling
circa 1981. Still as King Kendo, Clarke would later join Joint Promotions as a journeyman heel, making several appearances on television and frequently wrestling in tag matches against Big Daddy
, including teaming with Mal Kirk on the night Kirk died in the ring in 1987. Clarke and Thornley were scheduled to have a fresh feud in All Star Wrestling in 1993 with the authentic Nagasaki's manager Lloyd Ryan defecting to King Kendo's side, but this was abandoned when Thornley retired for the second time, with Clarke also retiring soon after.
Following Clarke's retirement, another wrestler Dale Preston took over the role of King Kendo, wearing Clarke's original costume and still managed by Ryan. During the mid 1990s, this version of King Kendo was frequently in the main even of All Star shows pitted in reenactments of successful feuds in which Thornley's Kendo had been involved, such as against Giant Haystacks.
Also in the early 1990s, Jim Cornette
's Smokey Mountain Wrestling featured a masked samurai character named Kendo The Samurai managed by Daryl Van Horne. This was initially portrayed by Tim Horner
but was later played by other wrestlers including Scott Antol
and Brian Logan.
In 1996, Japanese wrestler Tokimitsu Ishizawa became the masked Kendo Kashin
while wrestling for the CWA
in Germany
and Austria
. He would later take the gimmick back home to Japan where he has achieved considerable success, including various championships, as the character.
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...
stage name
Stage name
A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...
, used as a gimmick of that of a Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese Samurai
Samurai
is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...
warrior
Warrior
A warrior is a person skilled in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based society that recognizes a separate warrior class.-Warrior classes in tribal culture:...
with a mysterious past and even supernatural
Supernatural
The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...
powers of hypnosis
Hypnosis
Hypnosis is "a trance state characterized by extreme suggestibility, relaxation and heightened imagination."It is a mental state or imaginative role-enactment . It is usually induced by a procedure known as a hypnotic induction, which is commonly composed of a long series of preliminary...
. The name derives from the modern martial art of Japanese fencing
Fencing
Fencing, which is also known as modern fencing to distinguish it from historical fencing, is a family of combat sports using bladed weapons.Fencing is one of four sports which have been featured at every one of the modern Olympic Games...
(Kendo
Kendo
, meaning "Way of The Sword", is a modern Japanese martial art of sword-fighting based on traditional Japanese swordsmanship, or kenjutsu.Kendo is a physically and mentally challenging activity that combines strong martial arts values with sport-like physical elements.-Practitioners:Practitioners...
), and Nagasaki is the name of a city on the south-western coast of Kyūshū
Kyushu
is the third largest island of Japan and most southwesterly of its four main islands. Its alternate ancient names include , , and . The historical regional name is referred to Kyushu and its surrounding islands....
, site of the second use of the atomic bomb
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
During the final stages of World War II in 1945, the United States conducted two atomic bombings against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, the first on August 6, 1945, and the second on August 9, 1945. These two events are the only use of nuclear weapons in war to date.For six months...
.
Peter Thornley
The original and most well known use of the gimmick is by the legendary BritishBritish people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
wrestler Peter Thornley
Peter Thornley
Peter Thornley is a British professional wrestler known as Kendo Nagasaki. He was one of the biggest draws of all time in British Wrestling, especially in the mid-1970s and the turn of the 1980s/1990s....
who made his name in ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
's World of Sport
World of Sport (UK TV series)
World of Sport was a British television sport anthology programme which ran on ITV between 2 January 1965 to 28 September 1985 in response to competition from BBC's Grandstand...
. This version of the Nagasaki character dates back to November 1964. and became a household name in Britain after his TV debut in 1971. He also toured Japan in 1968 (under the alternative ringname Mr Guillotine) and North America in 1972, wrestling for Stu Hart
Stu Hart
Stewart Edward "Stu" Hart, CM was a Canadian amateur wrestler, professional wrestler, promoter and trainer. Hart founded Stampede Wrestling, a promotion based in Calgary, Alberta, and was the father of famous wrestlers Bret and Owen Hart...
's Stampede Wrestling
Stampede Wrestling
Stampede Wrestling is a Canadian professional wrestling promotion based in Calgary, Alberta and was for nearly 50 years one of the main promotions in western Canada and the Canadian Prairies...
where he held the promotion's North American title and Don Owen
Don Owen
Don Owen is a Canadian film director, writer and producer.Owen worked for Canada's National Film Board, producing short documentaries in the 1960s, and the dramatic film Nobody Waved Goodbye , which was the NFB's first full-length feature...
's Pacific Northwest Wrestling
Pacific Northwest Wrestling
Pacific Northwest Wrestling is the common name used to refer to several different professional wrestling companies, both past and present, based in Portland, Oregon, United States. The first such company was founded by Herb Owen in 1925...
. Back home in Britain, he achieved even greater fame due to his 1975-1977 feud with the tag team of future mutual archenemies Big Daddy
Big Daddy
- Politicians :* Idi Amin , President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979* Robert Byrd , American senator * Jesse Unruh , American Speaker of the California State Assembly- Sportsmen :...
and Giant Haystacks, as well as his December 1977 televised voluntary unmasking ceremony.
After retiring in 1978, he briefly came back in 1981 before returning more permanently in 1986 as lead heel of All Star Wrestling
All Star Wrestling
All Star Wrestling is a British Professional wrestling promotion also known as All Star Promotions, Superslam Wrestling and Big Time Wrestling and originally known as Wrestling Enterprises , run by Brian Dixon and based in Liverpool, England...
during their brief two years of TV coverage. This triggered a second period of major success continuing even after the end of wrestling on ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
until Thornley retired again in 1993. Since that time, he has made further comebacks with All Star Wrestling in 2000-2001 and LDN Wrestling in 2008.
Kazuo Sakurada
A Japanese wrestler named Kazuo SakuradaKazuo Sakurada
, better known as Mr. Sakurada and as the Japanese version of , is a retired Japanese professional wrestler. He is best known, under various monikers, for his work in Stampede Wrestling, National Wrestling Alliance, and World Championship Wrestling. Sakurada is also highly regarded by Bret Hart as...
also used a variation of the gimmick in the United States during the early 1980s. Before adopting the gimmick, Sakurada, like Thornley, had wrestled for Stampede and held the North American title there. This version of Nagasaki would wrestle in the American Wrestling Association
American Wrestling Association
The American Wrestling Association was an American professional wrestling promotion based in Minneapolis, Minnesota that ran from 1960 to 1991. It was owned and founded by Verne Gagne and Wally Karbo...
, Florida Championship Wrestling (where he was managed by James J. Dillon
James J. Dillon
James J. "J.J." Dillon is a retired American professional wrestler and manager.He is best known for being the strategic leader of the original Four Horsemen that consisted of Nature Boy Ric Flair, Tully Blanchard, Arn and Ole Anderson. He is most remembered as a manager in pro wrestling...
) and Continental Wrestling Federation before going on to wrestle on WCW
World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling, Inc. was an American professional wrestling promotion which existed from 1988 to 2001. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it began as a regional promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance , named Jim Crockett Promotions until November 1988, when Ted Turner and...
television, changing his ring name to The Dragonmaster and joining the J-Tex Corporation
J-Tex Corporation
J-Tex Corporation, also known as Gary Hart International, was a heel professional wrestling stable in World Championship Wrestling. The group was managed by Gary Hart and consisted of several popular wrestlers including Terry Funk, Dick Slater, The Great Muta, The Dragonmaster, and Buzz Sawyer...
stable.
Like Thornley, Sakurada wore a Kendo mein
Mein
Mein may refer to:* Mein clan, an ethnic group living along the Forcados River in Delta State, Nigeria* Mein , a variety of Chinese noodles made from wheat* Mein , a song by the band Deftones and System of a Down singer Serj Tankian...
to the ring. Unlike the British original, Sakurada wore face paint instead of a mask and carried a kendo stick rather than a sword. Sakurada also used Asian mist as part of his repertoire.
Other versions
A year after Thornley's original retirement in 1978, a lighter wrestler named Kendo Nagasaki II briefly wrestled for Joint Promotions.Also in the late 1970s, wrestler Bill Clarke appeared on shows by UK independent promoter Sandor Kovaks as a version of Kendo Nagasaki modelled directly on Thornley's character. Following considerable legal action by Thornley, Clarke was later renamed as King Kendo but retained the Kendo helmet, sword, cape and striped mask. In this guise, Clarke would later wrestle Thornley in a series of loser-lose-mask battles of the Kendos for All Star Wrestling
All Star Wrestling
All Star Wrestling is a British Professional wrestling promotion also known as All Star Promotions, Superslam Wrestling and Big Time Wrestling and originally known as Wrestling Enterprises , run by Brian Dixon and based in Liverpool, England...
circa 1981. Still as King Kendo, Clarke would later join Joint Promotions as a journeyman heel, making several appearances on television and frequently wrestling in tag matches against Big Daddy
Big Daddy
- Politicians :* Idi Amin , President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979* Robert Byrd , American senator * Jesse Unruh , American Speaker of the California State Assembly- Sportsmen :...
, including teaming with Mal Kirk on the night Kirk died in the ring in 1987. Clarke and Thornley were scheduled to have a fresh feud in All Star Wrestling in 1993 with the authentic Nagasaki's manager Lloyd Ryan defecting to King Kendo's side, but this was abandoned when Thornley retired for the second time, with Clarke also retiring soon after.
Following Clarke's retirement, another wrestler Dale Preston took over the role of King Kendo, wearing Clarke's original costume and still managed by Ryan. During the mid 1990s, this version of King Kendo was frequently in the main even of All Star shows pitted in reenactments of successful feuds in which Thornley's Kendo had been involved, such as against Giant Haystacks.
Also in the early 1990s, Jim Cornette
Jim Cornette
James Mark "Jim" Cornette is an American professional wrestling manager, commentator, promoter, and booker. As a manager, he has worked for Jim Crockett Promotions, World Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Federation and from 1991 to 1995, was the owner of Smoky Mountain Wrestling...
's Smokey Mountain Wrestling featured a masked samurai character named Kendo The Samurai managed by Daryl Van Horne. This was initially portrayed by Tim Horner
Tim Horner
Tim Horner is a professional wrestler best known for his "Lightning Express" tag team with Brad Armstrong.-Career:Tim Horner started wrestling in 1982 in the Alabama territory. He formed a tag team called the "Lightning Express" with Brad Armstrong and they had a lot of success. They won the...
but was later played by other wrestlers including Scott Antol
Scott Antol
Scott Antol is an American professional wrestler, best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling and Extreme Championship Wrestling under the ring names Scotty Riggs and Scotty Anton, respectively....
and Brian Logan.
In 1996, Japanese wrestler Tokimitsu Ishizawa became the masked Kendo Kashin
Kendo Kashin
Tokimitsu Ishizawa , better known by his ring name Kendo Kashin , is a Japanese professional wrestler...
while wrestling for the CWA
Catch Wrestling Association
The Catch Wrestling Association was a professional wrestling organization based in Austria and Germany and was founded in 1973. It was formerly run by famous AWA champion Otto Wanz. The CWA featured a traditional brand of mat wrestling mixed with various “Strong Man” competitions...
in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
. He would later take the gimmick back home to Japan where he has achieved considerable success, including various championships, as the character.