Saiga Kizaemon Reveals Why He Shut Down His Blog and Retired from Fighting Amidst Ongoing Discussions with Yu Abiru
“I’m really happy right now.”
As soon as Kizaemon Saiga (35) appeared at the café where we were scheduled to meet, he said this to the reporter. His hair was neatly trimmed, and compared to before, he looked slightly slimmer. The harshness had disappeared from his face, and he appeared a bit younger.
“My members-only personal gym ‘Saiga Gym’ is doing well, thanks to everyone’s support. Just this morning, I think about 20 people came? A total of 37 people are expected to come today. We have about 80 members, all of whom joined through word of mouth. Most of them are business owners. Their goals vary, from dieting and maintaining health to participating in martial arts competitions. Besides me, five professional fighters who compete in RIZIN, RISE, K-1, and Breaking Down are working here as staff. We usually take Sundays off, but considering everyone’s requests, I’m thinking about opening the gym on Sunday mornings as well. The staff also agrees. Honestly, I feel really blessed with the people around me. Everyone around me is such a good person, and I feel like I’m supported by them all.”
Kizaemon has taken a particular interest in lightweight fighter NAO (27), who is set to participate in Breaking Down on September 1st. He described his encounter with NAO saying, “The feeling of hitting the jackpot”. It was also NAO who led Kizaemon to decide to retire from being a fighter.
“I’ve mentioned before that I have an eye condition that’s narrowing my field of vision, but it’s really becoming clear that my eye reaction has slowed down. While doing some light sparring with NAO, I realized ‘I’m definitely a few beats behind.’ I can still see under sunlight, but under fluorescent lights like in this café, it’s no good. Also, not having a trainer I can trust completely, both physically and mentally, was a big factor. In Osaka, there are trustworthy trainers like Nobuyuki Shimada, who taught Joichiro Tatsuyoshi, and Hidefumi Minatoya from K-1, but as a fighter, mental strength is incredibly important. The presence of a trainer you can trust wholeheartedly is indispensable.”
Around the same time, there was one more thing that Kizaemon “ended.”
The blog, where he had been openly sharing his daily life with his eldest daughter and which often made it into online news, was suddenly shut down on May 7th. Since then, opportunities to learn about Kizaemon’s current situation have decreased, and the chances of him making online news or facing backlash have drastically diminished.
“I was approached by Ameba Blog with the suggestion, ‘Why don’t you give it a try?’ I started the blog around 2019 during the COVID-19 pandemic, so I was quite attached to it, but I felt bad because so many complaints were being directed to Ameba Blog. After numerous discussions with the person in charge, I decided to shut it down. I deleted it myself at home.
It’s a sad story, isn’t it? Over the five years or so, I received a lot of advice from the different people in charge, like ‘Let’s avoid this expression’ or ‘Maybe we should replace this photo.’ I’m not good at affiliate marketing, so I couldn’t make as much as famous bloggers, but even so, at its peak, I was earning about 2 million yen a month, and on average, around 600,000 yen. During the tough times when there were no matches due to the pandemic, it helped me a lot. I’m grateful for that.”
One of the reasons his blog, which once ranked first in Ameba’s dad section, gained significant attention was the custody battle over his eldest daughter with his ex-wife, Yu Abiru (38).
“I’m still, or rather, I even communicated with Yū yesterday. We’re continuing to discuss things. Through a three-person group that includes lawyers, all information about our daughter’s schedule and activities is open. I also send messages to Yū saying, ‘You can visit anytime.’ Recently, we’ve also talked about joint custody. I definitely want her to meet, as the only mother for our daughter is Yū. The parent-child relationship doesn’t change. I tell my daughter repeatedly that ‘Yū is a proud mom.'”
While talking, Kizaemon muttered, “I was immature as a person.”
“The custody battle with Yū and raising my child alone were really tough, but I learned a lot from them. Now I understand that her actions were for the sake of our daughter. Our goals were the same, but our values were different. Back then, when she said, ‘I want to have a drink with Mon-chan (my nickname),’ I got angry and thought, ‘What are you talking about? I’m an active athlete!’ I wonder why I was so impatient. I reflect on it and realize I was socially maladjusted. I’m truly sorry for the hurt I caused. She has a new partner now and has had another child. I can no longer make her happy, but I hope she builds a good family.”
His once-young daughter is now in the third grade. “She made hand-formed hamburgers for me,” Kizaemon said with a smile, looking at the photo of the hamburgers on his phone’s wallpaper.
“My mother, who lived in Osaka, has come to Tokyo, and now the three of us are living together. There seems to be concern online about whether the Saiga family is okay and if we’re managing to get by, but we are living peaceful and happy days every day. My current goals are to raise my daughter well and to work hard on managing the gym to help NAO become a top fighter. After all the struggles, I believe I can become a good trainer.”
Kizaemon hopes to one day show his daughter his presence in the spotlight as a successful trainer and corner man. He has begun his second life journey.
