(NOAH) Yoshinari Ogawa: "A lonely technician" born from solitude and hardship

6th May 2020
Dropkick

Interview with "Weekly Gong's" Editor in Chief, Kagehiro Osano
(Please note that this is not the whole interview, as you need to be a paid subscriber for the whole thing).

Q: Noah's Yoshinari Ogawa is getting more attention as a wrestling master
OSANO: In his case he gets periodic attention in this way. When pro wrestling gets tough, he gets the spotlight. When the style of pro wrestling changes, the universal wrestling by Yoshinari Ogawa is noticed.
Q: You met Ogawa a long time ago, right?
OSANO: I don't remember the day we first met, but "Weekly Gong" was published weekly in 1984 and in May of that year I became a correspondent for Gong. Ogawa had begun training only the summer before. He is the only wrestler to make his debut that I have known from the beginning.
Q: Ogawa is 53 years old, so its been a long relationship (laughs).
OSANO: I've known him since he was 17, so I am surprised to hear he is 53 years old (laughs). Ogawa dropped out of High School, and started training with All Japan. At that time in All Japan there were only four dormitory leaders, Hiromichi Fuyuki, Tarzan Goto and Toshiaki Kawada. There were only four people in total.
Q: Great combination
OSANO: There were new trainees besides Ogawa, but they ran away. Fuyuki went to Mexico for training in November, so that left only three. Ogawa was doing chores for the seniors, it was tough, and he had gone about two to three times. When I went to the dojo one day thinking that "he has gone", Ogawa was there.
Q: What do you mean?
OSANO: After all, if Ogawa wasn't there, then Goto and Kawada had to do chores, which was a problem. Mitsuo Momota seems to have convinced Ogawa, and Ogawa's father seems to have been a tough person as he said, "Isn't it better than being at home?" (Laughs)
Q: Ha ha ha ha ha! His parents house is scarier than the camp.
OSANO: He couldn't make his debut though when he returned. In 1985, the following year, Japan Pro Wrestling came to All Japan, and the wrestlers overfilled the dojo. Ogawa was very thin and weighed about 70 kilograms, and it took over a year for him to debut. It was September 1985.
Q: In those days a year was a long time
OSANO: Kabuki returned from the United States and asked with amazement, "How many months have you been a trainee?". He was fortunate that Fuyuki had been Tenryu's assistant went to Mexico, and since he was a trainee he became Tenryu's assistant. He pushed Tenryu for it, and he was allowed to debut, saying "I've been a trainee for a year, so let me debut."
Q: Without the consideration of Tenryu, his debut might have been delayed.
OSANO: Tenryu said, "You have to stand out because your body is small." So, he wore long tights with black and yellow vertical stripes. The tights were so flashy that the audience laughed (laughs). Because of Fuyuki and Kawada's tag "Foot Loose", it appears that Tenryu had an idea of flashy bandanas and tights.
Q: Because of the Rock and Roll Express.
OSANO: Tenryu said, "Go and say hello to the Japanese", so Ogawa went to the Japanese waiting room in his flashy tights, and greeted them with, "I'm Ogawa, and I am going to debut as an All Japan Pro Wrestler!". When he greeted him, Choshu laughed a lot (laughs).
Q: Hahahahaha!
OSANO: All the seniors in All Japan told me that they were "sorry" for him. Tenryu came out of the waiting room and watched the debut match. Ogawa said, "I am sure I am wearing these tights properly"
Q: Strict inspection
OSANO: At the beginning of his debut, Ogawa flew off the rope and did something like an elbow technique. That was also Tenryu's advice, "You have a light body, so try this technique". It seemed that Tenryu doted on him. Each day Ogawa would wash his costume, and it seemed that he received pocket money far exceeding the appearance fee for a rookie. He said, "When I realized it, I was receiving up to 200,000 to 300,000 yen".
Q: As expected from Genichiro Tenryu
OSANO: However, there was no junior to Ogawa. Solitude and loneliness, only Kensuke Sasaki of Japan Wrestling was a good friend. Mutually, Japan Pro had a newcomer, but he was elite.
Q: Kenta Kobashi, Kenji Kitahara and Tsuyoshi Kikuchi came to All Japan
OSANO: The relationship with the three was complex. Kikuchi and Kitahara are older than Ogawa, Kikuchi had been a university wrestling champion, and Kitahara had done shoot style.
Q: Was it something that existed in the background?
OSANO: Kobashi was in the same grade as Ogawa, and the juniors entered in 1987. By that time, some new trainees should have come in, but none of them lasted long. There are people like John Tenta and Takagi Isao (Arashi), but they are people with careers, and are not normal new trainees. Kobashi, Kitahara and Kikuchi had all entered together, so they were on good terms. Ogawa didn't really hang around with these three, and they didn't really like him at the time because he was such an unpleasant senior (laughs).
Q: He was solitary all the time.
OSANO: Meanwhile, Ogawa had always been dead last. When he finally thinks that a new trainee has arrived, he was either older or the same age. Moreover, Ogawa that time was in a slump. There was a match in Hanamaki in the New Year of 1987, and when he did a diving body attack he didn't land properly and dislocated his elbow. He was taken away in an ambulance, and could not return intil April. In 1988, a year later, he dislocated his left elbow in a match against Mighty Inoue and had to rest until the summer. In the summer or fall of 1989, he had a torn triceps muscle and had to have surgery.
Q: He was injured each year, right?
OSANO: In 1990, Tenryu left for SWS but Ogawa was out of action for a long time as he was injured and needed surgery. It was impossible for him to go to SWS, and he had no intention of going there, and couldn't accompany Tenryu.
Q: Ogawa was a member of the Tenryu Revolution, but the image of him as a member was not that strong.
OSANO: Ogawa said, "I wasn't even in the Tenryu Revolution. I was just Tenryu's attendant". After Tenryu had left, his juniors Kobashi and Kikuchi had a strong presence in the Super Generation Army. Ogawa was a member of the Tsuruta Army, but I don't have an image of that either. He had always been in the undercard fight.
Q: But he never went overseas for training
KOSANO: Kitahara was the only one who went in their generation. Ogawa finally came into the spotlight when Jun Akiyama went out. It was the mid 90s.
 
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Picture credit: Dropkick