Real Name - Michiharu Sadano
Lifespan - 3/21/31 - 7/1/98
5'6" 250 lbs. - Fukuoka, Japan

Aliases - none

Athletic background - Sumo (Professional - Sekiwaki)

Teachers - n/a

Professional background - Various(`54-`64), JWA(`64-`66), Tokyo Pro(`66-`67), IWE(`67-`69)

Peak Years - `65-68

Career Highlights -
- Returns from injury and teams with Rikidozan to win the All-Asian Tag belts
- Along with Michiaki Yoshimura wins the vacant All-Asian tag belts from Curtis Iaukea & Don Manoukian
- Defeats the Destroyer to win the WWA World title
- Along with Antonio Inoki forms Tokyo Pro and they run some successful cards
- Is the top native star in the IWE and helped get the company off the ground

Place in History - One of the JWA's top stars, Toyonobori was an important figure in puroresu's formative days as he brought a preexisting name value to the sport when it really needed it. A thickly built rikishi turned pro wrestler, he was at Sekiwaki level (under Ozeki and Yokozuna), like Rikidozan before entering pro-wrestling. He was never a very good worker, also like Riki. Both used their sumo skills, Riki used powerful chops, while Toyonobori used throws and simple holds. Despite their limitations as wrestlers, both had a good physical presense and the crowd was always behind him. Toyonobori was always the company's top star under Rikidozan of course in the years prior to his death. It was really no surprise that he jumped into that Number One spot after Riki's death and it is even less surprising that it did not work well. A mere figurehead star, Toyonobori was lacked Riki's charisma and obviously the decade of carefully building up to that working class hero role. While tag partner and booker Michiaki Yoshimura did everything to keep the JWA going, Toyonobori was skimming away money to cover his gambling debts. The JWA was struggling, but not so much they would tolerate that and he was fired in `66. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise as it forced Giant Baba into his spot, which turned the company around. Meanwhile Antonio Inoki started Tokyo Pro after a failed coup in the JWA and Toyonobori joined his efforts. The company failed though and most of the workers joined the IWE, which they had run joint shows with and again Toyonobori had a job. He remained with company in its formative years as a top player before retiring in 1967. Aside from briefly refereeing for Antonio Inoki, Toyonobori never had much more involvement in the pro-wrestling world. Toyonobori will mostly be remembered as someone who was in the right place at the right time early on, but soon found himself in the wrong places and the wrong times towards the end.