The Great Sasuke

Masanori Murakawa (村川 政徳, Murakawa Masanori), (born July 18, 1969), is a Japanese professional wrestler who is best known by his stage name The Great Sasuke, as well as a former Iwate Prefectural Assembly legislator. He has wrestled in Japan and in the United States in various professional wrestling promotions. He is said to have an incredible tolerance for pain, mainly in reference to the injuries he has had including a cracked skull on two occasions.

Professional wrestling career

In his early career, Murakawa wrestled under the name Masa Michinoku. Masa, from his given name Masanori, and Michinoku, after the alternate name for his Japanese home region, Tōhoku. Taka Michinoku adopted a similar gimmick to parody him. Later, on a tour of Mexico, Murakawa adopted the mask, uniform, and name Ninja Sasuke. This was the predecessor to the Great Sasuke gimmick he would adopt upon returning to Japan.

Murakawa is also the owner, and founder, of Michinoku Pro Wrestling, the first Japanese independent promotion not to be based around the Tokyo area. Instead, it was centered around the northern area of Honshu Island. The 2 prefectures in the northern area of Honshu are Iwate Prefecture and Aomori Prefecture.