WEST VALLEY CITY — Jinichiro Shibahara was a little bashful about signing an autograph after a 2,000-pound bull named Butch threw him into the dirt about two seconds into his eight-second ride Thursday night at the Maverick Center.
"Thank you," said the young girl who asked for his autograph on her brand new straw hat. "You did good tonight."
He smiles and shakes his head as he signs his name in both Japanese and English.
"No, I didn't," he said handing the hat back to her, "but thank you."
Shibahara, like all bull riders who fail to make the whistle, was frustrated that he'd come up short in a sport that doesn't even exist in his homeland.
"I've been thinking about him for a whole week," he said of the massive bull he drew in the Days of '47 Rodeo Thursday night. "I was supposed to call the PRCA about entering other rodeos, but I forgot because I was constantly thinking about him."
Born and raised in Japan, Shibahara had never even seen bull riding until 1995 when he spent a summer working as a ranch hand in Canada. So enamored with the sport, he took two weeks off and traveled to Dallas, Texas, where he watched "real rode" and hockey.
"I knew bronc riding," said Shibahara, whose season is being documented by a Japanese film crew. "But I had never seen bull riding. I thought, 'This is something I've got to do.'"
While his parents hoped it was a phase, he started down a path at age 24 that many men find hard to quit. The son of a "traditional Japanese businessman," Shibahara found his passion in a sport that is a mystery to most of his family and friends.
"I just can't describe what it is," he said, looking away for a moment. "It's just so much fun."
"My father has worked for the same company for 33 years," said Shibahara. "Somehow I just wanted to be a cowboy."
He told his mother he would quit at age 30.
"The first time I got a paycheck was at age 30," he said grinning. "It was in Sacramento, California, and I started to wonder, 'How far can I go in this sport?'"
At 32, he went to a bull riding school in California, which gave him as much confidence as it did skills.
In 2001, he met a bullfighter named Louie Jones. The two struck up an immediate friendship, which isn't that uncommon in the sport of rodeo.
What shocked Shibahara most was that just a few months after meeting Louie Jones, he asked if he could stay at the family's home for three weeks.
"He didn't even think about it for one second," said Shibahara, whose accent almost changes to a country drawl for a moment. "He said come on out."
The family's hospitality continues today, as Dave and Alicia Jones, Louie's parents, open their home to Shibahara every year.
"I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the Jones family," he said. "They give me a place to stay free of charge."
He comes to the United States every summer as a tourist and competes in rodeos throughout the west. He acknowledges that while he's gotten some publicity back home about his unusual profession, most people don't know what rodeo really is.
"They know what I am doing," he said. "But they don't know about the traveling all over the west. Traveling is the most important part for a rodeo cowboy."
Shibahara said he plans to continue riding bulls as long as he can.
"My mom wants me to quit right away," he said with a shy smile. "She recently sent me a note, 'I know this is what you want to do, and I'm always on your side.' My mom and dad have been really supportive … It's my lifetime challenge to ride in the PRCA."
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