Initially inspired by the Crush Gals tag team, Hokuto got into the business after quitting high school to join the AJW dojo, where she debuted just days before her 18th birthday as Hisaki Uno. As Hisaki Uno, her talent was quite obvious even from her young age, earning her a nod as 1985's rookie of the year. She was briefly tag team champion with Yumiko Hotta before they lost them in a 2/3-falls match. During this match, Hokuto would begin gaining her hard-earned reputation for toughness as she suffered a broken neck from a botched second-rope piledriver, and finished the match anyway; using her own hand in some cases to quite literally keep her head on straight.
She would again prove her unrelenting toughness in 1990, where in the Japan Grand Prix, she had a sudden and gruesome knee injury which tore it open and rendered her incapable of walking, and in abject agony. Sitting on the floor of the venue, she managed to find some gauze, and tearfully bandaged herself back up; dragging herself to the ring to finish the match. It would be after this injury that Hisaki Uno would disappear, and the far more well known woman; the tough-as-nails, impossibly dressed, blond-haired and impressively-makeup'd woman known as Akira Hokuto would be born, taking her moniker of "Dangerous Queen" to new heights as she faced some of the 90's greatest Joshi stars. Her 1993 in particular features an inter-promotional match that is often considered one of the best wrestling matches of all time against Shinobu Kandori. When AJW closed it's doors, she simply went to GAEA Japan, where she remained one of it's all-time greats.
Internationally, she also had a decent run with CMLL, where she feuded with La Diabolica for several years. She also had a brief but interesting run in WCW, where she was crowned WCW Women's Champion, but the belt was never utilized after a single match. It was here however that she met the man of her dreams, hot off the heels of an unsuccessful marriage: Kensuke Sasaki. Famously, they were married just a few days after their first date, and toured everywhere together for several years.
Hokuto began to wind down her career in 2001, though being a deeply unusual wrestler for her era in that she had started a family, and still kept wrestling. Her kids were at ringside for her retirement match in 2002, where true to the Dangerous Queen's form, she was nursing a rib injury that she managed to work through right up until the end. Since her retirement, she has sporadically helped her husband with business ventures, and has remained in Japanese media as a "Celebrity Mom", occasionally finding time on TV or Radio.
Hokuto is one of the more decorated Joshi performers of her era: Having been a one-time AJW Junior Champion, a two-time All-Pacific Champion, a four-time WWWA Women's Tag Team champion, a GAEA World Women's Tag Champion, a Wrestling/CMLL World Women's champion, and the only person to ever hold the WCW Women's championship. She is also a one-time winner of the Japan Grand Prix, a two-time winner of the Tag League The Best Tournament, and has been enshrined in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter and AJW Hall of Fame.
Dangerous Tropes
- Action Mom: Unusual for Joshi wrestlers, she was still wrestling even as she started her family. Given that her husband was still working at the time and she was a main player in GAEA for the first few years of their first child's life, it probably made more sense for their kids to get used to the travel early.
- Arch-Enemy: She had three: Aja Kong, Manami Toyota, and Shinobu Kandori. Kandori for much of 1993 was a special case, as any time they ended up clashing, they often ended up coated in each other's blood.
- Ascended Fangirl: Akira was honestly kind of a nerd for pro wrestling even at a young age. She got into the business by organizing for Bull Nakano 's fanclub, and the name "Akira" came as a shout out to Akira Maeda, who she also had tons of respect for. At her wedding, her ring-bearers were two children dressed as miniature versions of herself and Kensuke, complete with facepaint.
- Battle Couple: She and Kensuke were fierce competitors who often found themselves conveniently booked together, either as manager or wrestler.
- Costume Porn: Her entrance attire was often quite elaborate and extravagant, but it sometimes went a little overboard in some places.
- Determinator: Joshi's single biggest example. The number of injuries she received over the course of her career should've ended her career four times over, and would've easily stopped lesser wrestlers. She simply plowed through them all and got to finish her career on her own terms.
- Dented Iron: She finished her career on a broken rib, one of likely hundreds of injuries she'd sustained by the time she finished her career.
- Finishing Move: The Northern Lights Bomb. One her husband eventually picked up from her!
- Foil: For Manami Toyota. While both are considered some of the best professional wrestlers of their day, Hokuto was a wild, brightly-dressed, brutal heel for much of her career who used big power moves to put her opponent away, whereas Toyota was the monochrome, high-flying face.
- Friendly Enemy: Being at each others throats often never stopped Hokuto and Toyota from tagging as Marine Wolves.
- Happily Married: Akira and Kensuke have been married and deeply in love for almost 30 years.
- In-Series Nickname: Aside from her Red Baron, she was sometimes called "Mummy" due to the sheer amount of Gauze she often had to wear due to her myriad injuries.
- Kicking Ass in All Her Finery: One of her more memorable spots in came in 1995, where she appeared in a funeral dress and did a plancha straight to the floor in it. She frequently kept her more elaborate attires to her entrances
- Light Is Not Good: Often wore brightly colored outfits, blonde hair, and makeup to the ring, but was very heel for much of her career, especially overseas.
- Red Baron: "Dangerous Queen"
- Yōkai: Sometimes came dressed as an Oni to the ring.
