Kazumi Kotani
小谷一美
Daikokubō Benkei in May 2010
Born	(1957-04-03)April 3, 1957 (age 68)[1] Hidaka,Japan
Height	190 cm (6 ft 3 in)[2]
Professional wrestling career
Ring names	Daikokubō Benkei Albany Benkei Dunktane Arashi
Billed weight	160 kg (353 lb)
Debut	1993
Retired	2011

Kazumi Kotani (小谷一美,Kotani Kazumi; born April 3, 1957) better known by thering nameDaikokubō Benkei (大黒坊弁慶) is a formerJapanesesumo wrestler andprofessional wrestler best known for his time in the JapanesepromotionBig Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW).^[3]

Kotani practiced judo in junior high school before switching tosumo wrestling after enrolling at Minabe High School. After high school, he received several offers from professional sumo stables, but decided to decline them and continued his amateur career at the collegiate level. He joinedNihon University's sumo club and in his fourth year, won the national student sumo championship to become collegeyokozuna.

After graduating from university, Kotani opted to turn professional and joined theHanakago stable. He made his professional debut in the March 1980 tournament (honbasho). Due to his amateur accomplishments, he was grantedmakushita tsukedashi status which allowed him to make his debut at the bottom of themakushita division. Even though he was given this special dispensation, he still struggled to break through to thejūryō rank and was stuck inmakushita for four years. After changing his ring name (shikona) to Hanaarashi (花嵐) in May 1982, he began to produce stronger results and was promoted tojūryō in March 1984.

Hanaarashi was only ranked injūryō for a total of three tournaments. In his first tournament, he could only manage a 7-8 record after losing toWakasegawa on the final day. Since he was ranked at the bottom ofjūryō , he was demoted back down tomakushita. Nevertheless, he returned tosekitori status in July 1984 and achieved a winning record. As a result he was promoted to the rank ofjūryō 9, but could only manage 4 wins at that rank and was demoted fromjūryō.

After losing hissekitori status, Hanaarashi remained inmakushita for another year before announcing his abrupt retirement prior to the start of the November 1985 tournament. The reason for this was because the Hanakago stable closed down and he was not accustomed to living in a stable with so many wrestlers as all the personnel from Hanakago stable transferred to theHanaregoma stable.

Kotani made hisprofessional wrestling debut under the mask and name "Arashi" atWAR WAR-ISM ~2nd~, an event promoted byWrestle Association-R (WAR) on November 11, 1993 where he defeatedYuji Yasuraoka.^[4] When he unmasked in late 1994, the name was given to formerAll Japan Pro Wrestling jobberIsao Takagi. Kotani also wrestled in theInternational Wrestling Association of Japan, and atIWA Japan WELCOME THE WORLD CHAMPION TOUR’97 on October 27 he foughtDan Severn in a losing effort.^[5]

He participated in one of the longest matches in professional wrestling history, an108-man battle royal atTenka Sanbun no Kei: New Year's Eve Special, a cross-over event held betweenBig Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW),Dramatic Dream Team (DDT) andKaientai Dojo (K-Dojo) from December 31, 2009, competing against notable opponents such as the winnerJun Kasai,Danshoku Dino,Great Kojika,Taka Michinoku,Kenny Omega,Tajiri,Gota Ihashi and many others.^[6][7] AtBJW/OZ Academy Asahikawa Pro-Wrestling Festival, a cross-over event promoted by BJW in partnership withOz Academy on September 22, 2009, he teamed up withRyuji Yamakawa andChikayo Nagashima to defeat Atsushi Ohashi,Manami Toyota and Yuichi Taniguchi in asix-person tag team match.^[8]

Kotani is known for competing in the promotion's signature events. One of them is theSaikyo Tag League, making his first appearance at the 2000 edition of the event where he teamed up with Shunme Matsuzaki, placing themselves in the Block A and scoring a total of two points after competing against the teams ofAbdullah the Butcher andShadow WX,Men's Teioh andDaisuke Sekimoto and Kamikaze andAbdullah Kobayashi.^[9] One year later at the 2003 edition, Kotani teamed up with Abdullah Kobayashi, placing themselves in the Block B and scoring a total of five points after competing againstODD andHomicide,Ryuji Ito and Daisaku Shimoda, Da Hit Squad (Mafia andMonster Mack) and Bancho Matsuzaki andJaki Numazawa.^[9]

Kotani participated in other events such as the2000 Grand Prix Tournament where he fell short to Mike Samples in afirst-round match.^[10] At theBJW Heavyweight Championship Tournament from March 20, 2001, Kotani defeated Shadow WX in a first round match but fell short toJohn Zandig in the second round.^[11]

• Big Japan Pro Wrestling

• BJW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[12]
• BJW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – withAbdullah Kobayashi^[13]
• WEW Hardcore Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Abdullah Kobayashi^[14]
• Saikyo Tag League (2003) – with Abdullah Kobayashi

• DDT Pro-Wrestling

• Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship (1 time)^[15]

• Tokyo Pro Wrestling

• TWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – withAbdullah The Butcher

• 1957 births
• Living people
• Japanese male professional wrestlers
• Japanese sumo wrestlers
• People from Wakayama Prefecture
• 20th-century male professional wrestlers
• 20th-century Japanese professional wrestlers
• 21st-century male professional wrestlers
• 21st-century Japanese professional wrestlers
• Ironman Heavymetalweight Champions
• WEW Hardcore Tag Team Champions
• BJW Tag Team Champions
• 20th-century Japanese sportsmen

• CS1 German-language sources (de)
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Pages using embedded infobox templates with the title parameter
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