Want to Read About Kenta Kobashi Right Now!! [Kenta Kobashi Serial #1]

The Ironman of the professional wrestling world, Kenta Kobashi (56 years old), held his retirement match at the Nippon Budokan on May 11, 2013, and it has now been 10 years since then. After retiring, he held his own event “Fortune Dream” and had a match at Korakuen Hall on June 14. In addition, he runs a gym, works as a commentator, coaches active wrestlers, participates in lecture events, and crosses over various fields, continuing to contribute to this industry. As a man who loves professional wrestling more than anyone and is loved by fans more than anyone, he will be revisiting his passionate life story on the Tokyo Sports news website.


Original source



※ This serial was originally published in newspapers from June to July 2013, consisting of 20 installments. On Tokyo Sports note, it will be presented in a total of 11 parts with added photos. Furthermore, in the final installment, a newly written article based on an additional interview will be published, so please look forward to it!

My mother appeared on stage during my retirement match.

I have almost no memory of my father. I don’t even remember calling him "Dad." Even when I look at old photos, I can hardly find any pictures of us taken together. My father was a city hall employee, but he almost never came home. By the time I had memories, my parents were already separated, and even if my father occasionally came home, all I can remember is them quarreling and then my mother crying. So, in reality, my family was just my mother (Miyako), my older brother (Eiji), who was three years older than me, and me, the three of us.


Kobashi and his older brother, Eiji (foreground), grew up healthy under the care of their strong mother, Miyako. The local train in the background is also a precious scene full of memories.

I was born on March 27, 1967, in Fukuchiyama City, Kyoto Prefecture. At that time, as well as now, Fukuchiyama was a land rich in nature, so in my childhood, I would often run around the grasslands. Our home didn’t have a telephone, a bicycle, or a radio, but I felt very satisfied. I never strayed onto the wrong path. I think this is because I always watched my mother’s back and also because society as a whole was relatively laid-back in those days.

Without my mother, I am certain I would not have come this far. Watching my mother work hard, I decided to become a professional wrestler. Without my mother, Kenta Kobashi the professional wrestler would not exist. My mother was a strong person who devoted herself to taking care of us brothers and never relied on anyone else’s help. That is my fundamental starting point. Even though she was a shy person, in the end, she came to Tokyo to watch my retirement match for the first time and even stepped into the ring. So I was really very happy.


During Kobashi’s retirement match, his mother, Miyako (left), stepped into the ring to congratulate her son. On the right is his wife, Mayuko.

After entering elementary school, I became obsessed with baseball. By third grade, I had formed a team with my friends, and after school, we were absorbed in playing baseball all day long. In fifth grade, I joined the powerful local youth team “Junmei Fighters.” I had grown taller, so I played as the catcher and clean-up hitter (batting fourth), and my uniform number was “1.” At that time, from morning till night, it was all about baseball, and I seriously wanted to become a professional baseball player. I often thought while holding a rubber baseball, “I wonder if I can throw a magic pitch.”

Life may have been difficult, but my mother never let my brother and me feel that. At the time, she worked at the Self-Defense Forces (then the Fukuchiyama garrison), mainly doing sewing work. After school, I would go to her workplace to find her, and I remember watching her work from behind. When she saw me, she would smile and nod, but without saying much, she would continue sewing while pressing the pedal. Of course, she was working at that time. But the warm sunlight pouring in through the window and the rhythmic sound of the sewing machine still gently linger in the depths of my ears.


Kobashi, once a baseball-loving boy, shook hands with Giants’ manager Tatsunori Hara at Tokyo Dome in May 2003.

The Day My Dream Changed From “Professional Baseball Player” to “Professional Wrestler”

When I entered fourth grade, my older brother entered junior high school. My father never provided any support. Naturally, life became even tougher. In addition to her sewing work, my mother began washing dishes at a family restaurant. She would come home once in the evening to make dinner for us brothers, then go back out to work. Seeing this, I naturally became more resilient. I never thought of asking for anything.


Kobashi watched the match between Tsuruta and Máscaras at Denen Coliseum in August 1977, and became deeply fascinated.

For a boy who loved baseball, a major turning point came during the summer vacation of fifth grade. At the end of August, for the first time, my older brother and I watched a television broadcast of All Japan Pro Wrestling together, and my heart was stolen. I will never forget the match at Denen Coliseum between the giant Tsuruta-san and Mil Máscaras (August 25, 1977).



The venue was outdoors, and the scene on the TV screen was incredibly spectacular. Professional wrestling was just amazing. It was like another world. I was absorbed into the television, completely captivated by the match between Tsuruta-san and Máscaras. If I were to pursue a dream, it could only be to become a professional wrestler──. From that day on, my dream changed from “professional baseball player” to “professional wrestler.” (To be continued)