was a Japanese

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

. She made her debut in September 2001 for

All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling , nicknamed Zenjo (全女: 全 meaning "All", 女 meaning "Woman") was a ''joshi puroresu'' (women's professional wrestling) promotion established in 1968 by Takashi Matsunaga and his brothers. The group held their first card on June 4 of that y ...

under her real name but left the promotion shortly after. In 2002, she joined

Kaientai Dojo Active Advance Pro Wrestling (2AW) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion and training facility originally owned and promoted by Taka Michinoku. The promotion places emphasis on a style of puroresu that combines high-flying, technical wr ...

as a trainee but left before ever competing for the promotion. In 2003, she changed her name to and debuted for AtoZ, joining the Z-Spirits stable. After leaving AtoZ in 2005, she became a freelancer, competing for Ms Style, K-Dojo and

JWP Joshi Puroresu , also known as or simply JWP, was a Japanese ''joshi puroresu'' (women's professional wrestling) promotion, founded in 1992 as a splinter promotion of Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling. Celebrating its 25th anniversary at the time of its folding in 2 ...

. Kitagami died after drowning in her bathtub on September 14, 2005. She was 22 years old.

Career

Kitagami enrolled in the

(AJW) dojo when she was just 18 years old, debuting on September 23, 2001, going to a time-limit draw with fellow trainee Tomoko Morii. After less than six months as an active wrestler with the promotion, she left in January 2002 and became inactive for over a year. She briefly joined

in the fall of 2002 as a trainee, but left before ever competing for the promotion. She would join AtoZ in 2003 and change her ring name to , and in her return match in July, defeated Yukari Kitao. After almost two years with AtoZ, Mirai quit the promotion in March 2005 and announced she would be taking a hiatus from pro wrestling as a whole, citing problems with depression as her main reason. She returned to the ring in May as a

freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

r, and also debuted her masked character . She wrestled her last match on September 12, 2005 for the Neo promotion, teaming with Haruka Matsuo in a loss to

Kyoko Inoue is a Japanese female professional wrestler. She has held the WWWA World Single Championship three times, and is the first woman to win a men's title in Japan. Inoue performed in the World Wrestling Federation at Survivor Series 1995 in an all ...

and

Takako Inoue is a Japanese professional wrestler. She wrestled primarily for the All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling promotion, and held several championships, primarily in tag team wrestling. She was well known as one-half of the tag team Double Inoue, which ...

Death

Kitagami was first diagnosed with depression in January 2005, and subsequently left AtoZ as a result. During this time, she kept an online diary, where she openly discussed suffering from depression and disclosed that she previously attempted suicide at some point in early 2005. She also expressed frustration at the fact that she continued to take medication but saw no improvement in her mental condition. Despite this, she returned to pro wrestling in mid-2005, and was active until two days before her death. At around 2:00pm on September 14, 2005, Kitagami was found unconscious in the bathtub of her apartment. She was pronounced dead at the age of 22 shortly after. Despite her history of mental health issues and her previous suicide attempt, her death was ruled accidental and was revealed to the public by her friend and fellow professional wrestler Gami the following day. At the request of her family, no public memorial was held; however, tributes were paid by many wrestling organisations, including Ibuki,

, and numerous freelance shows.

Championship and accomplishments

*Atoz **Diamond Jr 5 Championship (one time)

References

{{reflist 1982 births 2005 deaths Japanese female professional wrestlers All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling People from Otaru Sportspeople from Hokkaido Accidental deaths in Japan Deaths by drowning 21st-century professional wrestlers