Fuka Kakimoto

Fuka Kakimoto (柿本 風香, Kakimoto Fūka, born August 20, 1984)[3][1][2] is a Japanese retired professional wrestler, mixed martial artist and model better known simply as Fuka (風香, Fūka) (pronounced and sometimes transliterated as "Fuuka") signed to Dream Star Fighting Marigold, who is best known for being a trainer and co-founder for World Wonder Ring Stardom.

She was trained by JDStar as part of the promotion's "Athtress" program, making her debut in February 2004 and quickly garnering a large fan following.

Fuka ended her in-ring career in March 2010 at the age of 25, after which she began training wrestlers for the newly founded World Wonder Ring Stardom promotion.

[14] During the rest of the year, she made three more successful defenses, defeating Mai Ichii on October 22, Yuri Urai on November 5, and Caribbean Rum on December 3.

In the first round, Fuka teamed with her brother Daichi, Kota Ibushi and Seiya Morohashi to defeat Banana Senga, Guillermo Akiba, Hisamaru Tajima and Toujyuki Leon.

[23] At the final event, Fuka wrestled in a tag team match, where she and JDStar trainer Jaguar Yokota defeated Misaki Ohata and Shuu Shibutani.

[8] On October 11, 2008, Fuka made her debut for Dragon Gate, defeating "Hollywood" Stalker Ichikawa in back-to-back intergender singles matches.

[32] On July 5, 2009, Fuka returned to NEO Japan Ladies Pro Wrestling, teaming with Yoshiko Tamura in the Mid Summer Tag Tournament VIII.

[38] During the past months, Fuka had started training several women, including Arisa Hoshiki, Eri Susa, Yoko Bito and most notably Yuzuki Aikawa, to become professional wrestlers for Stardom and also recruited her friend, mixed martial artist Mika Nagano, as part of the promotion's roster.

[38] Fuka worked as the on-screen authority figure and ring announcer for Stardom and started each major event with a dance performance.

On April 30, 2024, Dream Star Fighting Marigold confirmed that Fuka would be their assistant producer to its owner and founder, Rossy Ogawa, whom she used to work for as Stardom.

[42] While signed to JDStar as a professional wrestler, Kakimoto also began looking for opportunities to transition into mixed martial arts (MMA) with the Smackgirl promotion.

[43] Kakimoto's third and final MMA fight took place on September 15, 2006, when she scored a unanimous decision win over Maiko Takahashi.

[45] Kakimoto dominated the final round over her exhausted opponent and won it on the cards of all three judges, earning an upset victory over Ichii.