Taka Michinoku
Michinoku in February 2017 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Takao Yoshida October 26, 1973 Morioka, Japan |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Pepe Michinoku Piza Michinoku Taka Taka Michinoku Takako Michinoku |
| Billed height | 5 ft 8 in (173 cm) |
| Billed weight | 201 lb (91 kg) |
| Trained by | The Great Sasuke Gran Hamada |
| Debut | September 4, 1992 |
Takao Yoshida (吉田 貴男, Yoshida Takao) (born October 26, 1973), better known by his ring name Taka Michinoku (TAKAみちのく) (stylized as TAKA Michinoku), is a Japanese professional wrestler, trainer, and former mixed martial artist. He primarily appears for New Japan Pro-Wrestling. He was a member of Suzuki-gun from 2011 until its disbandment in 2022. He was then a member of Just 5 Guys from 2023 until its disbandment in 2025. He established the promotion JTO in 2019.
Michinoku became known in North America for his work for the WWF (now WWE), where he was the inaugaral WWF Light Heavyweight Champion. He is the founder and former head of Kaientai Dojo (now Active Advance Pro Wrestling), where he also primarily wrestled until 2019. Having held championship titles all around Asia, Europe, and North America, he is known for his long title reigns.
Michinoku held the FMW Independent World Junior Heavyweight Title for a combined duration of more than 15 months, the WWF Light Heavyweight Title for a record-setting 10 months, and the WEW Six-Man Tag Team Title for almost a year. He held the World Junior Heavyweight Championship, Michinoku Pro Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Championship, and Kaientai Dojo Strongest-K Championship simultaneously for almost 10 months.