"There was always hope" ~ Dreaming of being a professional wrestler. Interview with Kenta Kobashi (Part 1)
26th February 2020
Middle Edge JP
Kenta Kobashi, "Ironman Pro Wrestler", has attracted many fans after overcoming many injuries and illnesses during the course of his career. Kobashi, who has travelled through a turbulent life as a wrestler with indomitable spirit, has a straight approach to a great way of life.
In January 2020, the Middle Edge editorial department (Mid edition), went to Todoroki, Tokyo, to visit Fortune KK Co. Ltd to interview Kenta Kobashi. The representative from Midi (who does not usually show emotions) was smiling from ear to ear while travelling on the Tōkyū Ōimachi Line to Todoroki Station. Yes, for the editor who has been an enthusiastic fan from All Japan in the 1980s to Pro Wrestling Noah in the 2000s, this was the only opportunity I had had to interview Kobashi. It was a special event that made me feel "I am glad I did it for Mid Edge". Although from the start I did have doubts as to whether "Interviews held like this were okay"?
I arrived in the Fortune KK office feeling a little unsteady.
Kenta Kobashi
Born in Kyoto prefecture in 1967
1996: Won the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship
2000: Came to Pro Wrestling Noah
2003: Won the GHC Heavyweight title
2006: Long absence due to the discovery of kidney cancer
2007: Returned after 546 days at the Nippon Budokan
After retiring in 2013, he established his own company "Fortune KK" and he has been active in gym and fitness management, lectures and media appearances.
"LET'S PROTECT OUR HEALTH FOR THE AGING SOCIETY".
MID EDGE: Mr Kobashi, thank you for your time today, first of all, please explain your initiative to Middle Edge
KOBASHI: I wanted to create a connection between "memory" and the emotion of "nostalgia". I wanted to create a society where the elderly could live happily and positively. It's similar to why I started a gym. Japan is now an aging society with one in four people who are aged 60 or older, and I will be 53 this year, and I am potentially in that group. With protecting health, and taking care of my own body until I had to turn to a doctor for help as I could no longer in mind, I wanted to run a gym after retiring as a wrestler. There are three people in their 80s who come to the gym. Just as Middle Edge is trying to keep head and mind healthy by making use of old memories. I am trying to keep my body healthy through a gym. Our aspirations are similar (laughs).
MID EDGE: Thank you. Mr. Kobashi retired as a wrestler in 2013, and has been working on lectures and other activities. I think you have spent your time fulfilled after retirement.
KOBASHI: It's a great pleasure to have fun by telling old stories to fans. I might not be able to offer new topics about the ring as I am retired, but I can still connect with the fans who supported me in the old days. I think that's a blessing. To be honest, I had no image of retiring. My teacher, Giant Baba, was a man who was active until the end of his life. However, there was the depth of damage that has accumulated in my body during my life as a wrestler, and Misawa who died in an accident in the ring in 2009. So with all that in mind I thought that if anything happened to me in the ring then people would not be able to be absorbed in my pro wrestling, and I would not be able to show Kenta Kobashi's pro wrestling. I decided to retire.
MID EDGE: Speaking of which, Mr. Kobashi was teased for his efforts during his active era as a man who was married to Pro Wrestling. I think it was a tough decision to retire.
KOBASHI: I felt sorry more than anyone, but I didn't want to return to those days. The old days, the past, you can't change it, but I want to enhance the present. People cannot go back, and everyone is given time, which is something that is given equally to everyone, so we have to live in the now. Even if you couldn't do what you wanted to back then, if you can do it now there are some things that can be done, even if it is physically impossible. There are some things that can be done because of age. I want the readers of Middle Edge to know that. When I started lecturing after retirement, I wrote scripts and I practiced over and over again. I might have been confident in the ring in any venue, but I had to practice because I wasn't confident lecturing. I went to listen to people lecturing and used them as references. Thanks to that, maybe I am a little better than when I first started (laughs).
MID EDGE (thinking that this was exactly the image that he had of Kobashi when he was a wrestler): Let's look back on half a lifetime.
"I BECAME A PROFESSIONAL WRESTLER BECAUSE I DIDN'T GIVE UP"
MID EDGE: Could you tell us how you became a professional wrestler?
KOBASHI: I admired pro wrestlers as a child, and watched Jumbo Tsuruta vs Mil Mascaras live at All Japan. Speaking of pro-wrestling, at that time there were only All Japan. New Japan and International Wrestling Enterprise. I grew up in a single parent home, and I had the image of my father as Baba. Due to family circumstances, when I graduated High School I had to give up on college and go to work, and so I went to work for Kyocera who were a major local company in Kyoto. I didn't have the courage to take that step, although I wanted to be a professional wrestler.
"OPINIONS, NOT COMPLAINTS ABOUT THE ERA WORKING FOR KYOCERA"
MID EDGE: You joined All Japan two years later. What made you decide to take that step during the Kyocera Era?
KOBASHI: After graduating High School I got a job at Kyocera, and I was working at the Yokaichi Plant in Shiga Prefecture with thirty others. I was assigned to a department with a harsh working environment that everyone back then would avoid. I didn't get the job that I had asked for (note, people requested a department), and so at first I was just complaining (laughs). At that time most of the people were mid career and were homeowners. No one had time to complain, they each had a family and life and so under such circumstances my complaints became embarrassing, and so instead of complaining, I gave my opinion instead. I noticed if I worked hard in earnest, then I had more to say about good points and it became positive to improve the workplace by improving the work environment. Then after working for year as a recent graduate, I was transferred to Kagoshima. Again, it was a severe work environment where the newly graduated do not often go. When I went there working late at night and working on holidays was natural, and so it was a black spot. (Laughs). I lived like that for a year and a half, and I didn't have time to go out so, and so I ended up saving money.
INSPIRED BY MIKE TYSON
"I couldn't give up on pro-wrestling, and Mike Tyson that year triggered that feeling. One day I read an article on him in a newspaper. Tyson had been a problem child who had repeatedly been in and out of juvenile detention at a young age before becoming a boxer, and was now a champion. If so, then I will become a pro-wrestler! The switch was turned on.
JOINING ALL JAPAN DID NOT GO AS PLANNED
"After deciding to be a pro wrestler, I needed to first pay off the debts that I had built up through buying a car and paying for driving lessons. After leaving Kyocera, for two months I had saved enough money to focus on training. When I was working I had always trained when I could, but as I wanted to be professional I had to concentrate on training from morning to night."
THIS WAS AN ACTION THAT WAS THOUGHT OUT, NOT JUST COME UP WITH
"Yes. At that time I was a small 186cm and 100kg. I quit Kyocera to train, and I met the recruitment standards of physique. I was very happy to send my resume to All Japan.
MID EDGE: This went according to your plan?
KOBASHI: Yes, but two weeks later I received a rejection letter from All Japan?
MID EDGE: What? You were rejected?
KOBASHI: Yes, I failed, but I wasn't going to accept that I had prepared my body, and I was going to be dismissed just by a letter, so I called them. At the time if you had no track record in wrestling, your achievements in sports were still valued, both Kikuchi (Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, amateur wrestling college student) and Kitahara (Koki Kitahara, basketball) who were smaller than me, had both joined. I was going to join too. The conversation went like this;
RECRUITER: Did you quit your job?
KOBASHI: Yes, I have already quit. I don't have anything else.
RECRUITER: Do your best to find a new job.
It was like that, but I wasn't going to give up, and I called All Japan many times. I kept being told the same again and again, but if I gave up then that would be the end.
MID-EDGE: If you give up, its the end. It seems that anyone else would have given up...(rough)
KOBASHI: After that following a gym owner who acted as a go between as he had been attending training, I was told that All Japan would be holding an event in Otsu, Shiga. I decided to do the recruitment test again.
MID-EDGE: Your determination would not let you quit.
KOBASHI: On the day I went to the venue, I had an interview with Baba
BABA: What have you done?
KOBASHI: I did Judo
BABA: Okay. Come to Tokyo. I will contact you when the tour is over.
MID-EDGE: You are someone who trusts people's word, so you were waiting for the call. However, no one called you for two or three weeks after the end of tour. One month later you called All Japan. Then...
KOBASHI: Baba told me to come to Tokyo
RECRUITER: If Baba said that, then come on.
MID EDGE: Wasn't it passed on? If you hadn't called...
KOBASHI: Yes, if I had given up and not called then, I wouldn't have been a pro wrestler.
MID EDGE: Mr. Kobashi refused to give up, and that is why you were able to become a pro-wrestler.
KOBASHI: I was rejected by letter, and I couldn't get in no matter how many times I called, even when I was told after the admission test "come to Tokyo", I was still planning to go to the office and talk directly if I was still told no. Because I didn't give up, I was able to become a pro-wrestler.
Link to original article from Middle-Edge.jp
Picture credit: Middle-Edge.jp
Part 2 "Fist of Youth"
Middle Edge JP
Kenta Kobashi, "Ironman Pro Wrestler", has attracted many fans after overcoming many injuries and illnesses during the course of his career. Kobashi, who has travelled through a turbulent life as a wrestler with indomitable spirit, has a straight approach to a great way of life.
In January 2020, the Middle Edge editorial department (Mid edition), went to Todoroki, Tokyo, to visit Fortune KK Co. Ltd to interview Kenta Kobashi. The representative from Midi (who does not usually show emotions) was smiling from ear to ear while travelling on the Tōkyū Ōimachi Line to Todoroki Station. Yes, for the editor who has been an enthusiastic fan from All Japan in the 1980s to Pro Wrestling Noah in the 2000s, this was the only opportunity I had had to interview Kobashi. It was a special event that made me feel "I am glad I did it for Mid Edge". Although from the start I did have doubts as to whether "Interviews held like this were okay"?
I arrived in the Fortune KK office feeling a little unsteady.
Born in Kyoto prefecture in 1967
1996: Won the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship
2000: Came to Pro Wrestling Noah
2003: Won the GHC Heavyweight title
2006: Long absence due to the discovery of kidney cancer
2007: Returned after 546 days at the Nippon Budokan
After retiring in 2013, he established his own company "Fortune KK" and he has been active in gym and fitness management, lectures and media appearances.
"LET'S PROTECT OUR HEALTH FOR THE AGING SOCIETY".
MID EDGE: Mr Kobashi, thank you for your time today, first of all, please explain your initiative to Middle Edge
KOBASHI: I wanted to create a connection between "memory" and the emotion of "nostalgia". I wanted to create a society where the elderly could live happily and positively. It's similar to why I started a gym. Japan is now an aging society with one in four people who are aged 60 or older, and I will be 53 this year, and I am potentially in that group. With protecting health, and taking care of my own body until I had to turn to a doctor for help as I could no longer in mind, I wanted to run a gym after retiring as a wrestler. There are three people in their 80s who come to the gym. Just as Middle Edge is trying to keep head and mind healthy by making use of old memories. I am trying to keep my body healthy through a gym. Our aspirations are similar (laughs).
MID EDGE: Thank you. Mr. Kobashi retired as a wrestler in 2013, and has been working on lectures and other activities. I think you have spent your time fulfilled after retirement.
KOBASHI: It's a great pleasure to have fun by telling old stories to fans. I might not be able to offer new topics about the ring as I am retired, but I can still connect with the fans who supported me in the old days. I think that's a blessing. To be honest, I had no image of retiring. My teacher, Giant Baba, was a man who was active until the end of his life. However, there was the depth of damage that has accumulated in my body during my life as a wrestler, and Misawa who died in an accident in the ring in 2009. So with all that in mind I thought that if anything happened to me in the ring then people would not be able to be absorbed in my pro wrestling, and I would not be able to show Kenta Kobashi's pro wrestling. I decided to retire.
MID EDGE: Speaking of which, Mr. Kobashi was teased for his efforts during his active era as a man who was married to Pro Wrestling. I think it was a tough decision to retire.
KOBASHI: I felt sorry more than anyone, but I didn't want to return to those days. The old days, the past, you can't change it, but I want to enhance the present. People cannot go back, and everyone is given time, which is something that is given equally to everyone, so we have to live in the now. Even if you couldn't do what you wanted to back then, if you can do it now there are some things that can be done, even if it is physically impossible. There are some things that can be done because of age. I want the readers of Middle Edge to know that. When I started lecturing after retirement, I wrote scripts and I practiced over and over again. I might have been confident in the ring in any venue, but I had to practice because I wasn't confident lecturing. I went to listen to people lecturing and used them as references. Thanks to that, maybe I am a little better than when I first started (laughs).
MID EDGE (thinking that this was exactly the image that he had of Kobashi when he was a wrestler): Let's look back on half a lifetime.
"I BECAME A PROFESSIONAL WRESTLER BECAUSE I DIDN'T GIVE UP"
MID EDGE: Could you tell us how you became a professional wrestler?
KOBASHI: I admired pro wrestlers as a child, and watched Jumbo Tsuruta vs Mil Mascaras live at All Japan. Speaking of pro-wrestling, at that time there were only All Japan. New Japan and International Wrestling Enterprise. I grew up in a single parent home, and I had the image of my father as Baba. Due to family circumstances, when I graduated High School I had to give up on college and go to work, and so I went to work for Kyocera who were a major local company in Kyoto. I didn't have the courage to take that step, although I wanted to be a professional wrestler.
"OPINIONS, NOT COMPLAINTS ABOUT THE ERA WORKING FOR KYOCERA"
KOBASHI: After graduating High School I got a job at Kyocera, and I was working at the Yokaichi Plant in Shiga Prefecture with thirty others. I was assigned to a department with a harsh working environment that everyone back then would avoid. I didn't get the job that I had asked for (note, people requested a department), and so at first I was just complaining (laughs). At that time most of the people were mid career and were homeowners. No one had time to complain, they each had a family and life and so under such circumstances my complaints became embarrassing, and so instead of complaining, I gave my opinion instead. I noticed if I worked hard in earnest, then I had more to say about good points and it became positive to improve the workplace by improving the work environment. Then after working for year as a recent graduate, I was transferred to Kagoshima. Again, it was a severe work environment where the newly graduated do not often go. When I went there working late at night and working on holidays was natural, and so it was a black spot. (Laughs). I lived like that for a year and a half, and I didn't have time to go out so, and so I ended up saving money.
INSPIRED BY MIKE TYSON
"I couldn't give up on pro-wrestling, and Mike Tyson that year triggered that feeling. One day I read an article on him in a newspaper. Tyson had been a problem child who had repeatedly been in and out of juvenile detention at a young age before becoming a boxer, and was now a champion. If so, then I will become a pro-wrestler! The switch was turned on.
JOINING ALL JAPAN DID NOT GO AS PLANNED
"After deciding to be a pro wrestler, I needed to first pay off the debts that I had built up through buying a car and paying for driving lessons. After leaving Kyocera, for two months I had saved enough money to focus on training. When I was working I had always trained when I could, but as I wanted to be professional I had to concentrate on training from morning to night."
THIS WAS AN ACTION THAT WAS THOUGHT OUT, NOT JUST COME UP WITH
"Yes. At that time I was a small 186cm and 100kg. I quit Kyocera to train, and I met the recruitment standards of physique. I was very happy to send my resume to All Japan.
MID EDGE: This went according to your plan?
KOBASHI: Yes, but two weeks later I received a rejection letter from All Japan?
MID EDGE: What? You were rejected?
KOBASHI: Yes, I failed, but I wasn't going to accept that I had prepared my body, and I was going to be dismissed just by a letter, so I called them. At the time if you had no track record in wrestling, your achievements in sports were still valued, both Kikuchi (Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, amateur wrestling college student) and Kitahara (Koki Kitahara, basketball) who were smaller than me, had both joined. I was going to join too. The conversation went like this;
RECRUITER: Did you quit your job?
KOBASHI: Yes, I have already quit. I don't have anything else.
RECRUITER: Do your best to find a new job.
It was like that, but I wasn't going to give up, and I called All Japan many times. I kept being told the same again and again, but if I gave up then that would be the end.
MID-EDGE: If you give up, its the end. It seems that anyone else would have given up...(rough)
KOBASHI: After that following a gym owner who acted as a go between as he had been attending training, I was told that All Japan would be holding an event in Otsu, Shiga. I decided to do the recruitment test again.
MID-EDGE: Your determination would not let you quit.
KOBASHI: On the day I went to the venue, I had an interview with Baba
KOBASHI: I did Judo
BABA: Okay. Come to Tokyo. I will contact you when the tour is over.
MID-EDGE: You are someone who trusts people's word, so you were waiting for the call. However, no one called you for two or three weeks after the end of tour. One month later you called All Japan. Then...
KOBASHI: Baba told me to come to Tokyo
RECRUITER: If Baba said that, then come on.
MID EDGE: Wasn't it passed on? If you hadn't called...
KOBASHI: Yes, if I had given up and not called then, I wouldn't have been a pro wrestler.
MID EDGE: Mr. Kobashi refused to give up, and that is why you were able to become a pro-wrestler.
KOBASHI: I was rejected by letter, and I couldn't get in no matter how many times I called, even when I was told after the admission test "come to Tokyo", I was still planning to go to the office and talk directly if I was still told no. Because I didn't give up, I was able to become a pro-wrestler.
Link to original article from Middle-Edge.jp
Picture credit: Middle-Edge.jp
Part 2 "Fist of Youth"
According to Hidetoshi Ichise's 2019 book on the Four Pillars, the gym owner who helped Kobashi get his foot in the door of All Japan was bodybuilder Mitsuo Endo. His connection to the industry was that he had worked as a referee for the International Wrestling Enterprise (AKA Kokusai Puroresu) in their last years.
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