| Great Kabuki | |
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| Ring name(s) | The Great Kabuki Hito Tojo Kabuki Mr. Hito Rising Sun #1 Mr. Sato Yoshino Sato Akihisa Takachiho Takachiho |
| Billed height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) |
| Billed weight | 240 lb (110 kg; 17 st) |
| Born | September 8, 1948
Nobeoka, Japan |
| Billed from | Singapore |
| Debut | October 31, 1964 |
| Retired | September 7, 1998 |
Akihisa Yone Yoshi Mera (born September 8, 1948), better known as The Great Kabuki, is a Japanese professional wrestler. He was famous for being the first to blow "Asian mist" in his opponents' faces.
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Akihisa Mera was born on September 8, 1948 in Nobeoka, Japan. He started wrestling in 1964 at the age of 16 for the old Japanese Wrestling Association but soon left Japan to compete in the United States. From there he wrestled all over the world, including All Japan Pro Wrestling, several territories of the National Wrestling Alliance including Jim Crockett Promotions, Mid-South Wrestling, Mid-Southern Wrestling and World Class Championship Wrestling. He originally used the name Akihisa Takachihō, but adopted the Great Kabuki persona in Southwest Championship Wrestling in the late 1970s.
Mera, as the Great Kabuki, kept his hair in a mop cut which kept his facial features mostly hidden; he also painted his face. The storyline went that his face was scarred in a bed of hot coals during a match in Japan, and therefore kept his hair long and face painted to cover the deep scarring. He was managed by most of the top heel managers of the 1970s and early 1980s, and he most often was a heel. When he was a baby-face, he was very unpredictable and could turn at any time. Kabuki had a pre-match ritual of showing his skills with the nunchaku that intimidated most opponents.
He was the first wrestler to blow Asian mist into his opponents' faces. When Keiji Mutoh debuted in Jim Crockett Promotions as The Great Muta in March 1989, Mutoh was billed as Kabuki's son due to the similarities in style and the blowing of the mist. In reality they are not related, but did team under masks as "The Rising Suns" under the management of James J. Dillon in Crockett.
Some of his feuds were against Jimmy Valiant, Scott Casey, Abdullah the Butcher, Dusty Rhodes, Toshiaki Kawada, Chris Adams, Genichiro Tenryu, Bruiser Brody, and the Fabulous Freebirds. Kabuki's battles against Adams was billed as the battle of the superkicks, as ring announcer Bill Mercer often asked which kick was better: Adams' superkick or Kabuki's thrust kick.
In July 1990, he won the AJPW Double Cup tag-team title with Jumbo Tsuruta, but within days, he joined Tenryu in creating the SWS promotion. From there he went on to be one of the co-founders of IWA Japan.
He participated in one World Wrestling Federation match in 1994. It was the Royal Rumble and he was eliminated by Lex Luger.
Kabuki retired in 1998. He had a series of retirement matches. On July 20, he would main event at the Tokyo Korakuen Hall in IWA Japan by teaming up with Kendo Nagasaki to wrestle Keisuke Yamada and Shigeo Okumura; his last bout in the independent circuit. On August 8 he teamed up with The Great Muta to defeat Michiyoshi Ohara and Tatsutoshi Goto for New Japan Pro Wrestling, one of the major Japanese circuits. (Giant Baba would not let him retire in All Japan Pro Wrestling due to his jump to SWS.) September 7 was the grand finale for Kabuki, as he teamed up with Terry Funk and Doug Gilbert to defeat Freddy Kruger, Leatherface, and Metalface - symbolically his last match involving foreign wrestlers.
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