Hana: A Garden of Memories
Writer’s note: Even as I sat down at my desk to start this at 5am following a sleepless night I wasn’t sure if I would a) finish this; and b) put this out there. Honestly, I wasn’t even know what I was going to write.
4 years on, and this never really gets any easier. As much as time is supposed to heal all wounds, the fact that Hana Kimura isn’t here any more conquering the world is the sorest one on my soul – and likely will be until my final breath. From every account, an absolute beautiful spirit that had all the qualities to be a bonafide megastar wherever wrestling took her. It is an absolute crime that she was plucked from this world by the torrid words and evil spirits of those with nothing better to do in their lives than to disparage and tear down a young woman who’s soul had not even finished blooming.
I’m sure that Hana would love how much her spirit has inspired everyone that she has touched; be it creatively, inspirationally, or motivationally. I like to think that she has made all of us better people for knowing her story and bearing witness to her. I just hope that whatever I can contribute to the world will do her justice.
May you forever be in bloom,
Olly
As one may guess from the title of this collection, this primer is a collection of writings about various notable matches across the career of Hana Kimura, with each match being paired with a flower that fits with the theming, context or events of the chosen match. Join me as we journey through a garden of memories and relive some of the best of Hana Kimura.
Pink Hydrangea: Konami vs. Hana Kimura – 5 Star Grand Prix Final
(Stardom 5 Star Grand Prix 2019 Finals) [Sep. 29 2019]
Perhaps the most linked flower to Hana, deriving obvious association due to its namesake use for her signature grounded Octopus Stretch variation. Hydrangeas have historically taken on a broad spectrum of meanings as time has progressed, depending on culture and colouring of their petals. Particularly the pink variant is often considered a poignant gift to express gratitude and admiration to someone special in your life because of their symbolism of love and sincerity. It’s poignant that the flower with most association to Hana symbolically mirrors what could be considered one of her crowning achievements.
2019 as a whole was a supernova year for Hana following her Oedo Tai departure, and subsequent International Army formation in the back end of the previous year. For the first time in her career she was leading a unit in the rechristened Tokyo Cyber Squad, and led them to championship gold – capturing the Artist of Stardom trios titles alongside Jungle Kyona and Konami. In addition, she finally signed full-time to the promotion and was on course for the biggest singles success of her career, progressing to the finals of the 5 Star Grand Prix in September.
Opposing her in this decisive Korakuen Hall main event was her faction-mate Konami. With a title shot up for grabs, and the prestige that comes with outlasting a field of competitors in a round-robin tournament, the road that they had travelled together the 5 months since the formation of TCS in the Stardom Draft would have to be left behind as both attempted to forge their names into the annals of history and take the next leap forwards in their singles careers.
This is a very smartly wrestled match, and definitely one that takes advantage of the spectacle and stakes of the occasion. With Hana having a hard-fought encounter with Hazuki earlier in the night that she had won to secure vital points that would confirm her finals birth, it was her opposition who came into the match the fresher of the 2 having competed in a 3-way elimination trios match to open the show. Little time is wasted by Konami to further attempt to extend that lead, as she jumpstarts the match with a Dropkick as Hana enters through the ropes. She’s determined to take this moment from her faction leader by any means necessary. With the advantage secured, the plan of targeting Hana’s leg, which elicits blood curdling screams of agony, is immediately put into play.
It’s a plan that seems to work to great success and it’s not until the plan of single-mindedly targeting the leg is momentarily abandoned that Hana can take brief, fleeting moment of control of the match, reversing a Fisherman Suplex into a trio of Brainbusters to create an opening. Like the wounded animal that she is, Hana immediately decides to try for her most powerful weapon and locks in the Hydrangea at first opportunity and follows up with a Rope-Hung Boot when a rope break is reached.
A perilous sequence atop the turnbuckle, which includes a tease of a Package Piledriver from the top, leads to Konami once again snatching back control with a hanging leg lock that causes extra damage when Hana falls to the outside. Konami is clinically ruthless on offence, in addition to being the fresher competitor, going right back to the limb she has isolates with a strong majority of her offence. Status be damned, Hana needed to work hard and persevere to earn this biggest of wins.
The customary Fire Pro forearm exchange requires a full rush of spirit from both that leaves them spent provides a reset point that transitions to the next, more desperate feeling set of exchanges. Both are now rushing to try to find something that works before the other can do similar and locate a path to glory. Even the plan of systematically taking apart Hana’s leg is abandoned by Konami, in favour of trying to secure the win via her famed Triangle Lancer, (which has a 100% success rate). However, this proves to be her downfall as Hana was able to transition from a Triangle Lancer attempt to one final Hydrangea that secured her the submission win and her biggest singles accolade.
Just overall a very enjoyable encounter that goes to show that you can do a lot with a very simple story. The post match scene of them sitting together doing their special handshake in the middle of the ring with their trophies is also a touching display of the love they have for each other.
Rose: Kagetsu vs. Hana Kimura – World of Stardom Championship
(Stardom True Fight 2018) [Oct. 23 2018]
Typically carrying connotations of romance, a rose may initially seem like a peculiar choice to represent this breakout singles encounter between the former Oedo Tai cohort that doubles as Hana’s first opportunity at Stardom’s top crown, the World of Stardom championship. However, this instance is more a romance of the bad variety, taking representation from the rose’s association with passion, and the prickly thorns that it possesses. Instigated by Hana’s shocking betrayal of Kagetsu and Oedo Tai at the 2018 5 Star Grand Prix Finals, this would be no ordinary title challenge. Befitting the name of the Korakuen Hall show that it would main event, per Hana’s own request the match would be billed as a No Countout, No Disqualification match. Essentially, there would be no rules.
Bold and fruitful as this strategy of getting a title shot was, there was probably no-one on the Stardom roster that this scenario would play into the hand of more than the champion. Bringing Hana up within the somewhat villainous Oedo Tai as its leader, Kagetsu’s entire style was built around winning whilst doing her “half-assed best”. Meaning that she was far from averse to cheating or using rough tactics. In-fact, she often relished the opportunity. This was a woman who took pleasure in trying to break the spring coiled neck of Mayu Iwatani at any opportunity, resorting to trying to crush it with the entrance truss and even hanging. She was probably the last person in the locker room who you wanted to piss off enough to get into a No Rules match with, especially one where her prized World of Stardom championship was on the line.
Both had similar statements of intent within their pre-match promos that foretold the tone that the match would take. Hana only donating the phrase “time to destroy”, whilst a more talkative Kagetsu pondered “I don’t know if you’re confident, but Kagetsu’s going to kill you”. Destruction and violence was clearly on the mind of both as they brought chairs and nooses respectively with them to the ring.
In contrast to the 5 Star Grand Prix Finals a year later, it is Hana who starts the match by jumping the champion during her entrance. However, this comes with much less success as Kagetsu fights back almost immediately. From there you get a crowd brawl in the vein of an Aja Kong match, with customary Orange Seat barricade shots to boot. Hana finally gains advantage after some assistance from Faby Apache, but it is short lived as Oedo Tai lets their presence be felt leading to their leader diving upon a crowd including them and Hana. This is a theme that pops up throughout the match, with both parties being nuisances to one another and providing little assists. Whilst Oedo Tai has the numbers, Apache more than makes up for that with her size.
This is definitely a rawer Hana compared to a year later, especially felt in her selling as Kagetsu takes control. Here, a noose spot whilst a cool concept, ends up feeling slightly contrived in execution. I’d be confident in saying that the same spot year later performed by both would have the execution befitting of such a spectacle moment. That being said, I wouldn’t exactly say this is a match you watch for its selling, or it’s technical execution. Rather this is one you watch to see people beat the shit outta one another, a bit of rawness is not only appreciated, it’s often what makes matches like these feel so visceral. Think Mike Awesome vs. Masato Tanaka, but dialled down a bit on the Dudes Rock scale. It’s a pure brawl, with Hana choosing to lean into the stylings of her mother, who was one of the premier brawlers in Joshi wrestling history. In terms of that, it definitely delivers, with the aforementioned crowd escapades, noose hanging and even a chair headshot exchange to pay tribute to the world’s 2 favourite crazy bastards. Fittingly, in the end the finish came down to a referee stoppage as Hana refused to tap out to a combination Headscissors Kimura Lock from the Prime Minister
A very fun and enjoyable brawl that shows off a very interesting time period for Hana as she tries to carve out her own identity post Oedo Tai. Keen eyed viewers will notice that the gear Hana sports in this match is the style she would pass down to Rina when she was in Tokyo Cyber Squad the following year.
Nippon Daisy: Asuka (VENY) vs. Hana Kimura
(WRESTLE-1 Pro Wrestling LOVE in Yokohama 2018) [Sep. 2 2018]
This is a match where the match itself came as an inspiration before the flower did, and in truth I may even be wrong in the choice of flower wholly. The reason being that the inspiration for this choice of flower comes not from its symbolism of new beginnings, as poignant as that would be for a match from the promotion that gave Hana her start in the wrestling business, but rather Hana’s entrance from the event itself. Although it’s no less fitting, especially considering that this took place in the coastal region of Yokohama that Hana calls home, and the Nippon Daisy blooms.
The entrance in question is, quite frankly, ethereal. Hana makes a slow procession to the ring, almost gliding down to the melody of K’AAN’s Wavin’ Flag whilst adorned with a crown of red, white and green daisies, and a trailing veil that is similarly adorned at various points with the multicoloured flowers. She seems like a princess, or even a goddess, as she softly gifts one of the daisies to young girls in the second row at ringside by placing it in her hair. It’s a striking image, and one that just becomes exponentially more powerful re-watching it back following her passing.
Adding a wrinkle to the story of future teammates facing off is that this is Hana’s return from a short excursion in Mexico, which of course brings with it added pressure to deliver and showcase her growth. And deliver they did. The tone is set after an early slap at a rope break from Asuka that results in a slap exchange firmly establishing where each stood, with Asuka being bullying but Hana also not willingly just standing there and taking the shit.
Asuka is her usual brilliant self in this, which I’ve grown accustomed to expecting no matter what era of her career I watch. What I didn’t expect, and what took me completely off guard, was her hitting a chairshot to Hana’s head on the outside as Hana was at the ringpost. This may also be the most technical I’ve seen Hana be within a match, being much more used to her stylings in TCS or Oedo Tai. Coming off her Mexico excursion, she had some interesting holds and transitions to falls that she showed off. It definitely played into the formula of the match, which revolved around her having technical counters for a lot of Asuka’s offence whilst Asuka is rougher with her offence..
And if that fails, just fuckin’ headbutt her I guess. And you know what, it works, because immediately following Hana hits Asuka with a Spinning Fisherman Buster for the win on her return from excursion, earning herself a Regina Di Wave title challenge a fortnight later in Korakuen Hall.
You don’t know how much I wish I could have seen them run this back years later. I just know it’d have ruled so much. Not that this wasn’t fun, because it really was. But with how much each developed even over the course of a year, this matchup in 2024 would have blown people’s minds.
Cherry Blossom: Kairi Hojo vs. Hana Kimura – Wonder of Stardom Championship
(Stardom Grown Up Stars 2017 – Night 8: Kairi Hojo Homecoming) [Apr. 22 2017]
You’re a cherry blossom,
You’re about to bloom,
You look so pretty, but you’re gone so soon
That lyric from Fall Out Boy’s Centuries is something I always find myself coming back to in my head as it relates to Hana, and her time with us. It captures the spirit of some of my feelings of longing and what could have been very poignantly. It is almost too perfect to not reference at some point here, especially considering the theming of this primer.
That being said, the cherry blossom itself, and its connotations as an embodiment of beauty and mortality, are so fitting that its association with Hana’s very first singles title challenge in Stardom is unavoidable. Its symbolism of death within spring’s new life mirrors the 2 competitors path’s within Stardom at this point of encounter. The defending champion, Kairi Hojo had at that point already signed her WWE contract and was making her final appearance in her hometown of Hikari as a Stardom roster member on this night. Hana, the challenger, was at this time under a year into her time wrestling on Stardom shows and was a fresh-faced underling within Oedo Tai that was finding her own way in the wake of her mother’s retirement.
However, you wouldn’t know that in her confidence, not even showing any hints of it when questioned in her pre-match vignette about the topic. Instead she chooses, in true Oedo Tai spirit, to threaten that she will beat Kairi “so bad (Kairi) can’t show her face in her hometown anymore”.
The atmosphere, as one would expect for a hometown title defence, is absolutely electric and all in support of Kairi, (no matter how vocal Oedo Tai may be in Hana’s corner). This allows Hana and Kairi a moment of levity at the start to play into the reaction, with Hana initiating by posturing and posing to jeers. The momentary pause that Kairi takes for consideration as to whether to indulge in the posturing or not gives me a particular chuckle. As does the immediate follow-up where she thinks better and immediately clocks her challenger with a forearm to set the match proper into motion.
Being the more experienced wrestler, Kairi outmatches Hana technically in the opening exchanges, which Hana has to mitigate with underhanded tactics like hair-pulling. Again, Kairi shows she isn’t afraid to respond in kind, which feels fresh in a landscape where a lot of faces will take a moral high ground above that sort of action.
As the match progresses further, there was a particular spot where I had to genuinely consider if it was sacrilege or not to compare this match with the first Ozaki vs. Mio match. This is because, much to my surprise, Hana decides to dog walk Kairi in-front of her home town with her entrance sash tied around her neck. It’s not quite a chain and there’s no blood, but it is still pretty neat and the ire of the hometown audience is well and truly drawn as Oedo Tai gang up and pose on a prone Kairi in the ropes.
Much like Mio, Kairi, especially at this point in her career, is great at emoting and puts on a great performance as the glue that really holds this match together. With a lesser performer, some of the antics could have seemed contrived or a bit hokey, definitely so if the crowd wasn’t with her. But with Kairi here, that isn’t a worry at all. Naturally, it’s a successful defence via the Insane Elbow for the hometown champion. It’s not a masterclass, but definitely a fun ride. I mean, how could it not be with a crowd like this.
Tsubaki: Aja Kong, Meiko Satomura & Minoru Suzuki vs. Hana Kimura, Kyoko Kimura & ISAO
(Kyoko Kimura Retirement Produce ~LAST AFRO~) [Jan. 22 2017]
Kyoko Kimura debuted within professional wrestling in 2003 for Command Bolshoi’s JWP promotion. Over 14 years she wrestled across 55 different promotions, including promotions more notable for their men’s wrestling such as ROH, AJPW and DDT. She was a founding member of what would become Oedo Tai, with the group’s predecessor, Kimura Monster-gun, being named after her. All-in-all she had an amazing career, and was one of the standouts of a sadly glossed over time in joshi wrestling. She was also, and I really hope she doesn’t mind me saying this, a certified lunatic in the best pro-wrestling way. Absolutely fearless, she participated in deathmatches of multiple varieties, has a 2-1-1 MMA record, and even did a double footstomp from the Korakuen Hall balcony to Kayoko Haruyama. Her retirement came in January 2017, on her produce show ~LAST AFRO~, fittingly titled after her notable hairstyle that once stood at 1 foot tall.
The occasion of a retirement, particularly one as poignant as where you get to compete side-by-side with your family in your final moments as a professional wrestler, fits the spirit of depth, self-reflection and inner strength that is represented by the Tsubaki, or the Japanese Red Camellia Flower. An expression of love, affection and admiration, they were often used to honour fallen Samurai who took meaning and hope in the sudden way the Camellia flower died, hoping for a similar swiftness to their fate. They were also viewed as symbols of bravery and strength against all odds, much like how professional wrestlers are seen and idolised by their fans.
On this occasion, teaming with daughter, Hana, and husband ISAO she faced perhaps the most formidable trio of opponents possible. With her family by her side, she enlisted herself to once more show that lauded bravery and strength to the bitter end of her career.
Before the bell even starts, Kyoko asserts herself as the protector of sorts in her trio. She’s the first to step up to the opposition trio, and when Aja beckons Hana forward and Hana responds, it’s Kyoko who immediately stands in between them. Naturally, this also progresses into her starting the match and standing tall in the opening exchanges from Aja. My eyes opened wide when Hana willingly tagged herself in and started lighting up Suzuki following a bit of MMA time with him and ISAO.
Well maybe she didn’t exactly light him up… But she gave it a good attempt. And that’s what counts, right? Let’s just gloss over him laughing off her attacks and then proceeding to give just as good as he got before she can find an opening to escape with a dropkick to his knees and a quick tag to mum.
Unlucky for mum is that she is met with Aja dragging her to the outside and tossing her into chairs. Of course this being Aja Kong brawling in Korakuen Hall, she’s not missing the opportunity to bonk both the Kimura ladies with the Orange Seat door. Somehow in all of this, Suzuki once again gets poor Hana in his clutches, this time torturing her with an armbar around the ring post (and this won’t be the only time he does so).
The action gets back in the ring and the match becomes everyone getting their turns in on Kyoko, first Aja and then Suzuki again before a brief interlude once again for some MMA. Throughout this I’m quite surprised with how limited Meiko’s involvement in everything is. She’s very much a background character in the earlier stages of this before her exchanges with Kyoko leading to the back stretch.
Eventually, the god squad does wear down the family Kimura with Meiko finishing Kyoko off with a Death Valley Bomb. But not before they give it their all and go out on their shields. I love the spirit here. There’s something so satisfying about seeing someone get knocked down but persevere and give it another crack, even if they fail just that comeback is very satisfying. And with a trio like the opposition here, those moments are very easy to build and are very believable. Definitely worth a watch, even if only for the visual of Aja, Meiko and Suzuki on the same team.
Forget-me-not: Kyoko Kimura vs. Hana Kimura (Special Referee: ISAO)
(Kyoko Kimura Retirement Produce ~LAST AFRO~) [Jan. 22 2017]
Forget me, not.
It’s the simple wish of anyone who retires from something that they truly love; be it a sport, entertainment, study, or any other field. If you’re blessed with the opportunity to do the thing that you truly love, chances are that you want to do something that leaves a lasting legacy on those that you touched along the way, and those who come after you.
The namesake blue flowers, who’s nickname derives from Greek mythology, carry a fitting symbolism of true love and perhaps no truer love could be that of a mother and her daughter. So beautiful it is that Kyoko’s final match before retirement, her lasting legacy, her “forget me, not” comes against her own daughter moments after they fought one of their toughest battles side-by-side.
Anyone who has seen a joshi retirement/graduation match will know pretty much exactly how this goes without me even describing it. For those who haven’t, it’s a lot of passionate screaming, some tears and a whole bunch of feels as you get the non-retiring party going from some basic strikes right to their signature moves like they started a match on a WWE game with finishers stored. And it’s great pretty much every time, because it’s not really about the match but the moment of it all. It’s almost a part of the ceremony.
That being said, Kyoko headbutts her daughter unprotected in the match for a nearfall which her husband has to count. That’s pretty dope if you ask me. Real sicko shit, And then Hana won with a sweet running big boot a minute or so later. Honestly, you’re doing yourself a disservice if you don’t watch this when you’re watching the previous match.
It’s an extremely sad cloud that hangs over watching these last 2 matches, as beautiful as they are, that Hana never got the chance to have this sort of retirement herself and call it a career to ride off into the sunset on her own terms. However, I don’t think that makes them any less worth seeking out. It is just something that you’ll likely find yourself being mindful of as you’re watching them.
For those who have read this far. Firstly, thank you very much. Secondly, please consider (if you can) supporting Hana’s mother Kyoko by purchasing some goods from their online store, by buying the yearly memorial shows, or simply by donating to the Remember Hana nonprofit charity. All money raised goes towards Kyoko’s campaign against cyber bullying in Hana’s name in the hopes that no-one else will have to suffer in the same way.
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