Shokichi Hamada

#PWHS #Bio #Biography #Shokichi #Hamada #Puroresu #Catch #CatchWrestling #CACC #Sumo

It is thought he came over to America at the same time as Sorakichi Matsuda in 1883. For the best part of the next four years Hamada stayed there and transformed into a professional wrestler. Previously he had been a Sumo Wrestler and had been known as Sangokuyama while in Japan. 

In 1887 Hamada traveled back to Japan and arranged to set up the first ever professional wrestling shows in the Land of the Rising Sun. Not much is known about his career or the man himself as I said, what is known though is that he brought twenty American wrestlers to Japan on June 1, 1887 and had a sell out crowd. The rest of the tour was not a success though.

Overall his attempt to start wrestling as a major sport in Japan had failed. Shokichi Hamada laid the foundations for what would later become a very mainstream form of entertainment in Japan. Others would try for years after him and couldn't even get one sell out, as he had, until Rikidozan came along in the 1950s.

Forever Shokichi should be remembered as the pioneering force that lay the groundwork for all of Japanese pro-wrestling, or "Puroresu", right up until today's "Strong Style."

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Unique content strictly for the Professional Wrestling Historical Society.

Biography of Shokichi Hamada.
Author: Jimmy Wheeler.
Published: July 2014.
Biography: #66.
Editor: Jimmy Wheeler.

Updated: November 29, 2018.