| Shinobu Kandori | |
|---|---|
 Kandori in August 2011 | |
| Born | (1964-10-30)October 30, 1964 (age 60) Yokohama,Japan |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name | Shinobu Kandori |
| Billed height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) |
| Billed weight | 75 kg (165 lb) |
| Trained by | Kotetsu Yamamoto |
| Debut | 1986 |
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
Representing Japan | ||
| Women'sjudo | ||
| World Championships | ||
 | 1984 Vienna | -66 kg |
Shinobu Kandori (神取 忍,Kandori Shinobu, born October 30, 1964) is a Japanese politician, professional wrestler and retiredjudoka. She serves as a member of theHouse of Councillors, representing theLiberal Democratic Party. A native ofYokohama, Kanagawa, she ran unsuccessfully for the House of Councillors in 2004 but was allowed to join the house in 2006 whenHeizo Takenaka, a member of the house, resigned.
As a professional wrestler she worked for several women'spromotions from the 1980s to the 2000s, includingJapan Women's Pro-Wrestling and its offshoot, Ladies' Legend Pro-Wrestling (LLPW), of which she became the president in 2002. She held several championships, including the LLPW Singles Championship in 1993 and 1997, and theWWWA World Single Championship in 1998.
During her career, Kandori also had somehardcore matches. On March 14, 1997, Kandori had a bloodydeathmatch, where the ring ropes were replaced withbarbed wire, againstMegumi Kudo inFMW.
Kandori captured the bronze medal at the1984 World Judo Championships. She later planned to compete at the1988 Summer Olympics, but halfway to the Olympics she lost motivation for judo competition. Kandori considered becoming a trainer,[1] but she became interested inprofessional wrestling, and eventually retired from judo in order to pursue a pro wrestling career.[2]
Kandori joined the recently establishedJapan Women's Pro-Wrestling in 1986. Riding on her background as a judo medalist, she adopted thegimmick of an arrogantmartial artist, stating in an interview that she hated professional wrestling and that she could defeatDump Matsumoto in ten seconds.[3] Before the time of her debut, she trained underKotetsu Yamamoto andYoshiaki Fujiwara in theNew Japan Pro-Wrestlingdojo, where she got tospar with male wrestlers thanks to her athleticism and skill.[3] Kandori ultimately debuted in JWP debut show on August 17, 1986 againstJackie Sato.[4]
With her popularity quickly rising, Kandori came to be considered one of JWP'sshitenno along with Sato, Rumi Kazama and Nancy Kumi.[5] Her real life relationship with Sato, however, would sour after Sato gave Kandori a real eye injury during a match. In a match on July 6, 1987, Sato wentoff script and legitimately attacked Kandori, hitting repeatedly her still healing eye, without being warned or punished by the promotion afterwards.[6] The situation finally exploded in an infamous incident on July 18, 1987, when a mutually agreed-upon shoot wrestling match ended with Kandori punching Sato several times and dominating her, inflicting injuries that led to Sato's retirement.[7] Kandori left the company after the incident and tried to joinAll Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling, having contacted with its main starChigusa Nagayo, but was unable to do so due to contractual reasons.[7]
Kandori made her debut forLadies Legend Pro-Wrestling on January 15, 1993 by teaming up withMikiko Futagami and losing toEagle Sawai andHarley Saito. For the first couple of months, Kandori would mostly compete in tag team matches withRumi Kazama,Miki Handa andHarley Saito. On August 29, Kandori defeated Harley Saito in the semi-final of the LLPW Singles Championship Tournament and went on to defeat Eagle Sawai in the finals to become the LLPW Singles Champion. Kandori defended the championship twice against Eagle Sawai and eventually lost it toNoriyo Tateno on September 23, 1994.
Kandori continued to wrestle for LLPW for the next few years with nothing of any note happening until June 20, 1996, when she teamed up with Karula andRumi Kazama to lose toCarol Midori,Mikiko Futagami andYasha Kurenai for the vacant LLPW Tag Team Championship. On November 8, 1997, Kandori defeated Eagle Sawai for her second LLPW Single Championship. On March 21, 1998, Kandori defeatedYumiko Hotta to become theWWWA World Single Champion and held the title for almost a year before losing it back to Hotta on March 10, 1999. Later in the year, Kandori lost the LLPW Single Championship to Harley Saito. In 2002, Kandori became the president of Ladies Legend Pro Wrestling. On January 25, 2004, Kandori andTakako Inoue defeatedAmazing Kong and Eagle Sawai to become the LLPW Tag Team Champions and lost the titles on May 30 to Eiger andSayuri Okino.
As a former judo medalist, Kandori made her debut in themixed martial arts as part of theUltimate L-1 Tournament promoted by LLPW in 1995. She first faced kickboxer Liz Africano in the first round and defeated her with ease, taking her down and locking arear naked choke on her overwhelmed opponent. Kandori then advanced to the second round, where she fought wrestler Fieni Klee. Although Klee sprawled to a takedown attempt and locked aguillotine choke, Shinobu was able to escape and take her back, winning by rear naked choke again. At the finals, Kandori's last opponent would be multiple judo medalistSvetlana Goundarenko, who outweighed Kandori by 100 lbs. Goundarenko pressed Shinobu against the fence to avoid her striking and attempted a hip throw, but Kandori blocked it. After a brief punch combo by Kandori, however, Svetlana finally took Shinobu down and overpowered her, locking aneck crank and making Kandori tap out.
In 1998, Kandori fought a rematch against Goundarenko, again in a LLPW event. Cornered by formersumo championKoji Kitao,[8] Shinobu showed an improved submission defense, while her opponent fought more cautiously. Goundarenko threw Shinobu withura nage and tried to smother her from the back, but the pro wrestler escaped. Then, blocking a hip throw and akata guruma attempt, Kandori took her back and closed a guillotine choke, forcing Goundarenko into submission for the win.
Kandori was expected to faceGabi Garcia on December 31, 2016, atRizin Fighting Federation's year-end show inSaitama, Japan.[9] However, a rib injury forced her to pull out of the fight. She was replaced by Yumiko Hotta.[10] Kandori was set to face Garcia again on December 31, 2017, but this time the fight was canceled due to Garcia missing weight by 28 pounds (13 kg).[11]
| 5 matches | 4 wins | 1 loss |
| By knockout | 0 | 0 |
| By submission | 4 | 1 |
| By decision | 0 | 0 |
| Res. | Record | Opponent | Method | Event | Date | Round | Time | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win | 4-1 | Yumiko Hotta | Submission (armbar) | LLPW - L-1 2000: The Strongest Lady | November 22, 2000 | 1 | 7:50 | Tokyo, Japan | |
| Win | 3-1 | Svetlana Goundarenko | Submission (guillotine choke) | LLPW - Ultimate L-1 Challenge | October 10, 1998 | 1 | 4:08 | Tokyo, Japan | |
| Loss | 2-1 | Svetlana Goundarenko | Submission (neck crank) | LLPW - Ultimate L-1 Tournament | July 18, 1995 | 1 | 5:55 | Tokyo, Japan | |
| Win | 2-0 | Fieni Klee | Submission (rear naked choke) | LLPW - Ultimate L-1 Tournament | July 18, 1995 | 1 | 0:56 | Tokyo, Japan | |
| Win | 1-0 | Liz Africano | Submission (rear naked choke) | LLPW - Ultimate L-1 Tournament | July 18, 1995 | 1 | 0:42 | Tokyo, Japan |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |