Harry Fujiwara

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Larry Fujiwara
Image:4309894.jpg
Statistics
Ring name(s)	Mr. Fuji Master Fuji The Devious One The Tuna Fish Bandit
Billed height	178 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Billed weight	108 kg (239 lb)
Born	May 4, 1935 Pawtucket, RI
Billed from	Tokyo, Japan

Harry Fujiwara (born May 4, 1935), known best by the ring name Mr. Fuji, is a former all time heel professional wrestler, who is best known for his work as a manager. As a manager, he would often throw salt in the eyes of face wrestlers. Although he was billed as Japanese, he was in fact a Japanese-American born in Hawaii.

As a wrestler, Mr. Fuji held the World Wrestling Federation's WWF Tag Team Championship several times with different partners including Professor FoFo Tanaka (3 times when the company was known as the WWF), with one of their reigns being the third longest tag team title reign in the WWE/F/WF, and also Mr. Saito (twice when it was known as the WWF). Fuji is one of the most respected tag team wrestlers in World Wrestling Federation history, having held one half of the World Tag Team titles longer than any other wrestler.

Fuji would "blind" his opponents by throwing salt in their eyes. He would carry a little bag of salt in his tights. The throwing of the salt was a take-off on what sumo wrestlers do as they enter the ring. The meaning is said to be a way to invite good luck before the match. This was particularly emphasized when Mr. Fuji managed Yokozuna.

Among the wrestlers who were victimized by the blinding salt were Rick Martel, Chief Jay Strongbow, Jules Strongbow, Bret Hart and Ricky Steamboat.

Before joining the WWF, he had a career in Hawaii with Peter Maivia's Wrestling Hawaii. He often was associated with one of Hawaii's biggest heels, Tor Kamata.

After leaving wrestling, Fujiwara retired to the city of Knoxville, Tennessee. In 1997, he sued the makers of the video game WCW vs. nWo World Tour claiming that the character Master Fuji was based on him. The outcome of the lawsuit is unknown.

Fujiwara operated a training dojo out of Jefferson City, Tennessee, and Dandridge, Tennessee, until 2001. The school is credited with creating current independent professional wrestlers "The Prodigy" Shane Andrews, Robbie Race, and Scotty Atomic.

Mr. Fuji was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on March 31,2007 by Don Muraco. At the end of his acceptance speech, Fuji managed to say his trademark 'BANZAI!', despite the fact that he was rarely able to do so in his old age.

Wrestlers managed by Mr. Fuji

• George "The Animal" Steele
• Magnificent Muraco
• Killer Kahn
• Jim Neidhart
• Joe Bourquin
• Kamala
• Demolition (Ax & Smash)
• Powers of Pain (The Barbarian & The Warlord)
• Berzerker
• Jeff Jarrett (for one match against Lex Luger)
• The Orient Express (Pat Tanaka & Akio Sato and later Kato)
• Crush
• Yokozuna
• Owen Hart
• "Cowboy" Bob Orton

Championships and accomplishments

• International Wrestling Alliance

• IWA Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Tiger Jeet Singh

• Mid-Southern Wrestling

• Mid-Southern Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Toru Tanaka

• National Wrestling Alliance

National

• NWA Canadian Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
• NWA United States Heavyweight Championship (San Francisco version) (1 time)

Regional

• NWA Georgia Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Toru Tanaka
• NWA Hawaiian Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Karl Von Steiger
• NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Genichiro Tenryu
• NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
• NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship (4 times) – with Haru Sasaki (3) and Tony Borne (1)
• NWA Southeast Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Toru Tanaka

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated

• PWI ranked him # 445 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003.

• World Wrestling Council

• WWC North American Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
• WWC North American Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Pierre Martel

• World Wrestling Entertainment

• WWWF / WWF World Tag Team Championship (5 times) – with Toru Tanaka (3) and Mr. Saito (2)
• WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2007)

• Other Titles

• British Empire Commonwealth Championship (1 time)

Notes and references

de:Harry Fujiwara

ja:ハリー藤原

Wikipedia information about Harry Fujiwara This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Harry Fujiwara". It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer). Help contribute to Americola and edit this article.