 Hirota in April 2023 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1978-04-12)April 12, 1978 (age 47)[2] |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Kyusei Ninja Sakumaru Stan Hansen Hirota Kinnikuman Hirota Bolshoi Hirota Sakura Hirota |
| Billed height | 158 cm (5 ft 2 in)[1] |
| Billed weight | 58 kg (128 lb) |
| Trained by | Chigusa Nagayo |
| Debut | 1996 |
| Retired | June 2, 2025 |
Sakura Hirota (広田さくら,Hirota sakura) is aJapanesepolitician and semi-retiredprofessional wrestler. She last worked as afreelancer, and is best known for her tenure with the JapanesepromotionsGaea,Pro Wrestling Wave andOz Academy.[3]
Hirota's later career is characterized by being a comedy wrestler who oft appears as adoppelgänger of other wrestlers, dressing up as and portraying their mannerisms in an exaggerated, poorly executed way for comedic effect. Hirota sometimes even ironically imitates her own opponent, examples include:Saki Akai andAsuka. She retired on June 2, 2025, due to her pursuing a career in politics; in the process, she left Pro Wrestling Wave.
Hirota made herprofessional wrestling debut atAJW Discover New Heroine, an event promoted byAll Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling on August 12, 1996 where she competed in atag team tournament in which she paired up with her trainerChigusa Nagayo, falling short toAja Kong andYoshiko Tamura in a first-round match.[4]
As a freelancer, Hirota is known for working with various promotions. AtWAVE The Virgin Mary Reina De Reinas 2012, a cross-over event produced byPro Wrestling Wave in partnership withLucha Libre AAA Worldwide on November 27, 2012, Hirota scored a victory overRan Yu-Yu.[5] AtJWP Recapture In Shinjuku, an event promoted byJWP Joshi Puroresu on October 25, 2015, she teamed up withKazuki in a losing effort toHanako Nakamori andMakoto.[6] AtSeadlinnng The Second Match ~ Up To You! from November 25, 2015, Hirota teamed up withEmi Sakura in a losing effort toTakako Inoue andYumiko Hotta.[7] At the finals of the2020 D-Oh Grand Prix ofDDT Pro Wrestling from December 28, 2018, she fell short toSaki Akai.[8] AtHana Kimura Memorial Show, a show which portraited one year since the passing ofHana Kimura on May 23, 2021, Hirota competed in a28-person All-Star Battle Royal which also involvedCima,Masato Tanaka,Yusuke Kodama,Jun Kasai,Jinsei Shinzaki and many others.[9]
She had her first match forIce Ribbon atNew Ice Ribbon #424 from October 28, 2012 she teamed up withHamuko Hoshi to defeatCherry and Meari Naito.[10] AtNew Ice Ribbon #696 on December 5, 2015, she unsuccessfully challengedNeko Nitta and Kyuri for theTriangle Ribbon Championship in athree-way match.[11]
Hirota has a tenure withOz Academy. AtHeart on Wave on September 23, 2014 she teamed up withMayumi Ozaki as "Ozakura Princess" defeatedAja Kong andTsubasa Kuragaki in the finals of a five tag team tournament to win the vacantOz Academy Tag Team Championship.[12] AtWAVE/OZ Academy OZABU Spin Off, a cross-over event promoted by both Oz Academy andPro Wrestling Wave on June 7, 2015, she competed in a19-person battle royal also involvingTsubasa Kuragaki,Mio Shirai,Kaori Yoneyama,Manami Toyota and others.[13]
Hirota is also known for her tenure withSendai Girls' Pro Wrestling. Athouse show hosted by the promotion on January 20, 2019, she participated in a15-woman battle royal also involving notable opponents such asAlex Lee,Kaoru Maeda,Meiko Satomura,Sareee and others.[14] At anotherhouse show from March 11, 2019 she unsuccessfully challengedChihiro Hashimoto for theSendai Girls World Championship.[15]
Hirota is known for competing in various of the promotion's signature events. One of them isCatch the Wave, making her first appearance at the2014 edition of the event where she placed herself in the "Adeyaka" block and scoring a total of six points after competing againstYumi Ohka,Tsukasa Fujimoto,Tomoka Nakagawa,Kyoko Kimura,Shuu Shibutani andYuu Yamagata.[16] One year later at the2014 edition of the tournament, she scored three victories and six losses after competing against the likes ofKana,Hikaru Shida, Mika Iida,Cherry,Ryo Mizunami,Misaki Ohata,Kaho Kobayashi andRina Yamashita.[17]
As for theDual Shock Wave, she made her first appearance at the2014 edition in which she competed against teams such as Fairy Family (Dynamite Kansai and Fairy Nipponbashi) and Merazoma (Melanie Cruise andMoeka Haruhi), she teamed up with Mika Iida as "Sakuragohan" and made it to the finals from October 15 where they also dropped theWave Tag Team Championship to Revolucion Amandla (Kyoko Kimura andTomoka Nakagawa).[18] At the2017 edition of the event she teamed up withSaki as "Pyonzu, Zu" and fell short to Natsu & Natsuri (Natsumi Maki andSumire Natsu).[19]
On June 2, 2025, Hirota and Pro Wrestling Wave announced that Hirota would leave the company, and would start to become more involved in Japanese politics. She registered as a member of theJapan Innovation Party, a center-right populist party, to run for theHouse of Councillors'Aichi at-large district inthe 2025 elections.[20]
Hirota is a mother of twins, a boy and a girl. She once brought them atDDT All Out Day on July 29, 2019 since she did not find any babysitter for them.[21] She previously stated that she was once a supporter of theSports and Peace Party, which was run byAntonio Inoki.
