Corporate Sponsorship -- Japanese Style

The most obvious difference between athletic companies' sponsorship of lady wrestlers in Japan, as opposed to in Europe, is that there are no teams for companies to sponsor. Instead, each lady is free to contract with as many sponsors as she can attract. For example, Yuki Kato, above in the Adidas grey one piece, also has contracts with Asics for her knee pads, Mizuno for her elbow pads and Puma for her wrestling shoes.
Yuki's opponent, Kazuha Ogura, has two sponsors -- Speedo for her suit and Mizuno for her elbow pad. Given that each sponsor supports several women, it's not uncommon to see ladies wearing clothing from the same manufacturer going up against one another.

Yuki is known for her flowing brunette locks, exuberant approach to wrestling and her custom high-cut suit.
Unlike in American or European pro-style matches, low blows are an accepted part of the game. Below, Kazuha finishes Yuki off with a quick downward leg strike between Yuki's legs.
Aki Hirakawa, pictured below, has taken an entirely different approach towards sponsorship. Instead of being covered with a cacophony of different labels like a Nascar driver, she has an exclusive arrangement with Speedo. Aki's only labelled apparel is her one-piece suit, and her logo-free elbow pad, knee pads and wrestling boots compliment her signature red and beige suit.

The Disadvantage of Wearing a One Piece Suit

Inspired by a thoughtful and loyal reader (hint: comments are always appreciated), I've been thinking about how a wrestler's particular outfit might change the outcome of a match. In these photos, we see that the shoulder straps can be pulled down to trap a wrestler's arms. With her arms so constrained, she is unable to defend against her opponent's attack. So much the better that, in each case, the opponent issues a nipple or breast attack.

In Praise of the One Piece Wrestling Suit

Although I suscribe to the view that, all other things being equal, the highest form of erotic wrestling takes place when the ladies are tussling in the nude, one shouldn't dismiss the opportunity to watch women wrestling in one piece suits. For example, the silver one piece in the above photo produces the wonderful "camel toe" effect.
Since a "camel toe" sighting is unfortunately rare, the most obvious benefit of the one piece is that it allows for the fabric to be high cut around the legs and hips. Although the Japanese seem to have perfected this sort of outfit, it's nice to see that the folks at wrestlinglounge.com aren't too far behind (pun fully intended).

Emu Kojima v. Sayaka Tomita

Both Ms. Emu Kojima, in the violet bikini, and Ms. Sayaka Tomita have a good sense of purpose in this match. At the outset, Ms. Tomita shows that she's got a plan in mind -- to go after Ms. Kojima's crotch at every opportunity. For her part, Ms. Kojima isn't too pleased as her opponent executes on this strategy with a quick reach around grip.Ms. Kojima tries for a grip of her own, but Ms. Tomita has her all tied up and is in perfect position to resume her attack (albeit from behind).
Finally, Ms. Kojima manages to lay on her own grip, and is paying careful attention to its application as Sayaka begins to suffer.
With both ladies stripped of their tops, Ms. Kojima gets her own back with a clever reach around crotch grip of her own. Note how Ms. Kojima's left leg keeps Ms. Tomita from closing her legs together to protect her crotch.

Boxing in Teeny, Tiny Bikinis

Although this match is obviously staged, the photos demonstrate that the folks in Japan are constantly thinking of new ideas for our viewing enjoyment. In this case, girls are going at it in professionally taped boxing gloves and tall boxing boots, but otherwise just wearing the most minimal of bikinis with g-strings.
A nice shot of a fighter in her corner, perhaps dejected at the course of the fight so far. The water sprayed on her breasts and neck to similate sweat is a nice idea, but I've yet to meet anyone who manages to work up a sweats on their chest and not on their face. The result of the "knockout" blow, with the loser's mouthpiece laying in the ring next to her. The sheen of the oil (I can't even say it looks like water in this picture) is a bit too much, but the victor's somewhat tired expression and body language let's us imagine that it was a particularly sprited match.

Solid Japanese Ring Wrestling

I've selected these five photos from two ring matches (available for purchase from Battle Japan) to discuss some of the finer points of properly capturing a ring match that is not diluted with sexual attacks. In the first featured match, we have Mao Takigawa in the black misfitting one piece against Aiko Oshino. Ms. Oshino is issuing a very simple and effective knee to Ms. Takigawa's collarbone, and the photo captures the moment of impact. There is no Casper/Rosemary-like oversized grimace, but the closed eyes and clenched teeth of a women wrestler taking a solid shot.
Ms. Takigawa appears to be suffering not only from Ms. Oshino's spirited attack, but also from the fact that her suit's strap is cutting into her left nipple. A poor choice of outfit, to be sure, but one which benefits the viewer.
These three photos feature the larger Kuroi Yume against Hirayama Yuri. As neither of these ladies are particularly busty, they wear swimsuits that are cut particularly high around their hips. Although Ms. Yume may not be in the best of physical condition, I am a fan of ladies who aren't mere whisps getting into the ring for our viewing pleasure.

One final point is that the ladies' aren't wearing elbow pads. Given how slender many of Japanese women are, the elbow pads often float around their arms that detracts from the overall effect of their proper ring attire. A small detail, to be sure, but as I've written in the past, it only takes the slightest misstep to ruin an otherwise commendable photo.

The Proper Angle Makes All the Difference

I've selected these photos to show how the angle that the photographer uses can have a tremendous impact on our enjoyment of the photo. The first photo is simply pedestrian. The aggressor in the black suit looks like she would rather be selecting a different shade of eye shadow and the young lass getting worked over is doing her best impression of a wrestler in pain. The photographer is standing in the ring, pointing his camera downwards at the ladies in order to capture all of the "action."
Now this photo, of the same ladies, is an entirely different kettle of fish. The photographer is standing outside the raised ring, and is eye-level with the young lady in white. Although she is now topless, that is not what draws us in. Instead, it is the looming and dominating lady in black over the helpless loser who is thrust directly towards us. A combination of the camera's angle and that the ladies' hair obscures their faces allows us to imagine that this match is more in intense than the photo shoot most assuredly was. Just another example of why if you go to the trouble of having ladies wrestle in the ring, you should photograph them from outside the ring, just as they would be viewed by the spectators.

Movement in the Ring

After an exhaustive review of photos of Japanese lady ring wrestling, I noticed that one element of a match was rarely captured -- that of movement in the ring. Unlike mat or oil wrestling, where the ladies are naturally in close contact throughout, the ring's defined space provides ample opportunity for the ladies to move about. While high-flying techniques are beyond the capabilities of almost all of the ladies featured in the types of matches we like (i.e., those with an erotic component), it was nice to see that this photo features two attractive ladies moving with some speed within the ropes.

After the Match

Although the above photo is taken after a mixed oil match, the result of which was most likely pre-ordained, the photo captures something of the reality of the situation. The man lies on the mat, face down and anonymous. After all, he is just a fixture just like a lamp in a play -- he performs a function but since the viewer is supposed to place himself in the wrestler's stead, the wrestler needs to be non-descript, or better yet, anonymous. As always, it is the woman who captures our attention. Her bikini top has been pulled aside to display her breasts and her body is covered in oil. But while the ends of her long hair are also covered, her face doesn't have even a trace of oil. All the better not to smudge her makeup. No doubt the script called for her to dominate the match once were breasts were exposed. She confronts the viewer, exhausted from her exertions but in no way bowed from her experience.

A Devious Smile

In a staged match, it is always refreshing when one of the ladies is enjoying her work. Here, the young lady in the white attending to her opponent's nether region is obviously relishing her task.

Sweaty Japanese Ring Wrestling

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Just One Small Detail Between Good and Bad

Throughout the ages, men and women have debated the differences between good and bad. Now, I'm not going to add to that worthwhile discussion. I'm just going to show how a small detail in a photo of a topless or nude lady standing in ring wearing boxing gloves can turn from potentially good into bad with just one detail. In the first two photos, we have attractive nude women wearing boxing gloves standing in a well-appointed ring with the appropriate detrius of the boxing world behind them. But what absolutely destroys any enjoyment we can get from these photos is that both ladies are wearing belly button rings with large dangling chains. Of course I know that these ladies aren't going to box or really fight. But part of the allure of a great foxy boxy (or wrestling, for that matter) photo is that we can imagine that they are going to do so. But there's no way to sustain this suspension of disbelief when you're staring at the three inch piece of jewelry on a lady's belly.
Below we have a well executed photo. I can tell you that it is entirely staged and that this lady was as involved in a boxing match as I am in high energy nuclear physics. But this young woman appears as if she is ready to fight, and is perhaps looking at her opponent sprawled out on the floor. There is nothing to suggest that she is not in the middle of a match (i.e., no jewelry) and has her hands up in a what appears to approximate a defensive position.

Nice Topless Japanese Oil Wrestling

I was really taken by the progression of photos of this lovely young brunette lady (whom I will call Kumi) taking part in a playful video of topless oil wrestling. In the above photo, it looks as if Kumi is looking for direction as her opponent has her in a hammerlock and is gripping her breast.
Kumi is still on the wrong side of the ledger, but shows us her wonderfully skimpy bikini bottoms.
At last, she makes something of an effort, but doesn't seem to know exactly how to proceed.

Well, a foot to the crotch is always a good idea.

And here we see Kumi really focusing on trying to get her foot against her opponent's crotch. Quite a different expression from before when she was looking pretty lost (but pretty nonetheless).

Real vs. Scripted -- Sumo Style

I've blogged some in the past about obvious differences between real and "scripted" (or to be less kind, fake) apartment and mat wrestling matches. I thought it would be interesting to apply this analysis to photos from entirely different culture and type of match -- Japanese Sumo Wrestling.

In the above photo, we have two very attractive women who are not physically built for sumo and have very stylish haircuts while their makeup has been expertly applied. Instead of crashing into each other as is the norm in a true sumo match, the two ladies attack each other's naughty bits for our viewing pleasure.
This next photo is basically an homage to the standard breast attack featured in Japanese catfighting. One lady grips the other's breast, careful to let the nipple poke out between her spread fingers, and the attacker watches the other's reaction. Again, the ladies' bodies are obviously better suited for virtually anything other than sumo and their loincloths are perfectly fitted (or to be more accurate, misfitted) so to expose just a hint of their fine pubic hair.
At least in this photo one could argue that the mutual breast pushes are designed to push the opponent backwards. But since they are wrestling in a ring, how does one know when a lady has been pushed out of the circle -- is it when her back touches the ring ropes?
And now we're onto the real stuff. Immediately, one sees that the ladies would shop at the "plus size" department, at least in Japan. They are obviously not models, but instead are everyday women who have agreed to go at it topless for some extra Yen. While the lady on right does appear to go for a defensive breast push, it is interesting to note that her opponent attempts a much more solid press right into the upper chest.
Going breast to breast, these big ladies are trying to push one another around. And below, we see that the women are starting in a traditional position, on a simple mat that has the tradtional sumo circle.

Babes in Wrestling Photoshoot

Just a quick "behind the scenes" glimpse of a photoshoot featuring busty Japanese women obviously posing for wrestling photos.

The Importance of Background

Of course, the focus of our attention will be the girls. But our enjoyment and appreciation of the action, whether staged or not, can be enhanced by the setting. In this photo, we see Casper (one of my new found favorites) getting the better of the action in what appears to be one of the girl's bedrooms. The knick-nacks on the bureau allow us to imagine that one of the girls has a fondness for cats and music that addresses the issue of sustainable world peace.

Here, the background causes a bit of amusement. For it seems that the teddy bear is watching the action along with us, but with a somewhat quizzical expression.


At first glance, just your average, ordinary Japanese topless ring match. But the trophies on the side table suggest something more. Perhaps the girls are part of a regular league that holds competitions with the obligatory award ceremony. This key background details lets our imagination loose to explore several enticing storylines.

Big Breasted Japanese Catfighters

I'm sure that there's something better than Japanese ladies with big breasts catfighting for our viewing pleasure, but whatever that something is doesn't exactly come to mind. Obviously a staged match, but we must applaud the way their bikini tops have been shoved to the side by their large swaying breasts. The hint of a smile on the attacker's face as she tries for a crotch attack, while the lady in black and red tries to push her foe away. But the raison d'etre of this photo are certainly the ladies' well matched breasts with their large nipples. No question that we are, thankfully, in a silicone-free zone.