This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Its only attribution is to IMDb, which may not be a reliable source for biographical information. Please help by adding additional, reliable sources for verification. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (October 2011)

Shu Kei (舒琪) or Kenneth Ip is a Hong Kong film director and screenwriter active during the 1980s and 90s. A graduate of the The University of Hong Kong, his most famous work is 1990's Sunless Days (沒有太陽的日子), a documentary exploring the Tiananmen Square Massacre and its influence on the people of Hong Kong in the days preceding the 1997 handover of the city to the People's Republic of China. The documentary received an OCIC Award at the 1990 Berlin International Film Festival.

Currently, Shu Kei is the Dean of Film and Television at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.

External links[link]

• Shu Kei at the Internet Movie Database

Great Sasuke
Great Sasuke, at the Hustle event in Yokohama on May 4, 2009
Ring name(s)	The Great Sasuke Masa Michinoku Ninja Sasuke SASUKE Black Ninja Sasuke The Ram
Billed height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Billed weight	82 kg (180 lb)
Born	(1969-07-18) July 18, 1969 (age 42) Morioka, Iwate Prefecture[1]
Trained by	Kotetsu Yamamoto Gran Hamada
Debut	March 1, 1990

Masanori Murakawa (村川 政徳, Murakawa Masanori^?), (born July 18, 1969^[1]), 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 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[link]

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2010)

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 island of Hokkaido.

As part of an agreement between Michinoku Pro Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation, the Great Sasuke was part of the tournament to crown the first WWF Light Heavyweight Champion in 1997. Although Sasuke was heavily pushed to be the winner of the tournament, he would later brag to the Japanese media how he would only defend the title in Japan had he won the title and would refuse to drop the title on WWF television. When the WWF heard of Sasuke's comments, he was fired as well as his working agreement with them terminated, although a former member of Michinoku Pro Wrestling, Taka Michinoku, would end up winning the title.

In 1998 he and Tiger Mask IV began feuding with the heel (villainous) clones of their respective gimmicks: Masked Tiger (Takeshi Ono) and Sasuke the Great (Masao Orihara).

In 1999 he won the NWA World Middleweight Championship vacated by old rival Ultimo Dragon. Although the tournament was promoted by Ultimo's Toryumon Japan promotion, Sasuke took the title to his base at Michinoku and styled himself a "traveling world champion" in the style of NWA World Heavyweight Champions from the 1960-80s.

In 2002, Sasuke briefly turned into a heel and started using the name SASUKE, using blue stripes on his mask instead of the red stripes. However, he later turned into a face (fan favorite) when Jinsei Shinzaki "brought him back from the dark side" by "exorcising the evil out of him".

Sasuke, Jinsei Shinzaki and Dick Togo at Chikara King of Trios in April 2011.

Sasuke still currently wrestles in Michinoku Pro Wrestling, although he left the running of the promotion to Shinzaki in 2003 to focus on his political career. In 2003 he lost the NWA title to Ultimo Dragon, who then vacated it and returned the belt to CMLL in Mexico, in preparation for his WWE career.

On April 15, 2011, Sasuke returned to the United States to wrestle for Chikara in the 2011 King of Trios tournament, where he would represent Michinoku Pro with Dick Togo and Jinsei Shinzaki. In their first round match Team Michinoku Pro defeated Team Minnesota (1-2-3 Kid, Arik Cannon and Darin Corbin).^[2] The following day, Team Michinoku Pro defeated Jigsaw, Manami Toyota and Mike Quackenbush to advance to the semifinals of the tournament.^[3] On April 17, Team Michinoku Pro was eliminated from the tournament in the semifinal stage by F.I.S.T. (Chuck Taylor, Icarus and Johnny Gargano).^[4]

Other media[link]

In 1999, Sasuke performed on Sasuke, the popular Japanese obstacle course competition. In the Third Competition, he got stuck at the Rolling Log and timed out on the Hill Climb. When the name SASUKE was translated into "Ninja Warrior" for the United States, the translators ignored his wrestling background and called him "The Great Ninja Warrior".

Sasuke is also part of the rock band Crazy Crew with Ricky Fuji and Ken45°.

Political career[link]

On April 13, 2003, Sasuke won election to the Iwate Prefectural Assembly, making him the first actual masked legislator in history. He is the fourth Japanese wrestler to get elected to office. Antonio Inoki, Hiroshi Hase and Atsushi Onita preceded him, though all of them were elected to the Japanese Diet at the national level.

Sasuke lost in his bid to become governor of Iwate in a recent election.^[5]

2009 arrest[link]

On February 19, 2009, Sasuke was arrested for assault after kicking a 36-year old man and grabbing him by the shirt collar. Sasuke was reported to be angry because his picture was being taken with a cellphone camera. The incident happened on a JR Joban Line train at Minamisenju Station.^[6] However, all charges were dropped and was released from jail on February 21, after serving 40 hours in jail, after Sasuke apologized to the man.^[7] The man who took Sasuke's photograph was said to not have known who he was and thought he was just some crazy person wearing a mask in public.^[7]

In wrestling[link]

• Finishing moves
  • High-angle senton bomb
  • Michinoku Driver (Double underhook brainbuster) - innovated
  • Thunder fire powerbomb

• Signature moves
  • Asai moonsault
  • Enzuigiri
  • Low-angle savate kick off the apron to an opponent on the floor
  • Mule kick
  • Multiple suplex variations
    • Cradle
    • Dragon
    • German
    • Tiger
  • Rider Kick
  • Sasuke Special (Cartwheel into an over the top rope corkscrew suicide senton or suicide plancha)
  • Sasuke Special II (Cartwheel into an over the top rope corkscrew moonsault)

Championships and accomplishments[link]

• Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling
  • FMW Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

• Michinoku Pro Wrestling
  • British Commonwealth Junior Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
  • Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Championship (3 times)
  • Tohoku Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Dick Togo (1) and Yoshitsune (1)

• New Japan Pro Wrestling
  • IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
  • IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Jushin "Thunder" Liger
  • J-Crown (1 time)
  • NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
  • NWA World Middleweight Championship (1 time)¹
  • NWA World Welterweight Championship (1 time)
  • UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
  • WWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

• Osaka Pro Wrestling
  • Osaka Pro Wrestling Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Asian Cooger

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI ranked him # 92 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003.

• Universal Wrestling Association / Universal Wrestling Federation
  • UWA/UWF Intercontinental Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Gran Hamada (1) and Sasuke the Great (1)
  • WWF Light Heavyweight Championship (2 times)²

• World Wrestling Association
  • WWA World Middleweight Championship (1 time)

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards
  • 5 Star Match (1994) vs. Wild Pegasus at Super J Cup
  • 5 Star Match (1994) vs. Jushin Liger on July 8
  • Best Flying Wrestler (1994)
  • Best Wrestling Maneuver (1994) The Sasuke Special

• Other titles
  • Big China Nakahara Unified Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Ricky Fuji

¹This championship is promoted by Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), it was on loan to them from New Japan Pro Wrestling when he won it. Also, despite the title still using the NWA initials, it is no longer recognized or sanctioned as a world title by the National Wrestling Alliance. The same goes for the NWA World Middleweight Championship.
²Despite winning the title twice, neither of the reigns are recognized by World Wrestling Entertainment. No reigns with the title prior to December 1997 are recognized by the WWE.^[8]

References[link]

External links[link]

Professional wrestling portal

• Masanori Murakawa at the Internet Movie Database
• Biography at Gerweck.net

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (February 2009)

Jinsei Shinzaki
Shinzaki in April 2011.
Ring name(s)	"The White Angel" Hakushi Nihon Kamikaze Mongolian Yuga Jinsei Shinzaki
Billed height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)[1]
Billed weight	101 kg (220 lb)
Born	(1966-12-02) December 2, 1966 (age 45) Tokushima, Tokushima, Japan
Trained by	Gran Hamada
Debut	June 11, 1993

Kensuke Shinzaki (新崎 健介 Shinzaki Kensuke, born December 2, 1966) is a Japanese professional wrestler, better known by his stage names Jinsei Shinzaki (新崎 人生 Shinzaki Jinsei) and Hakushi. Hakushi is the WWF derivation (1995–96) of his Japanese persona, a Buddhist pilgrim.

Career[link]

Shinzaki in 1995.

Shinzaki started in Gran Hamada's Universal Lucha Libre promotion under the name Mongolian Yuga. In 1993 he moved to the Great Sasuke's Michinoku Pro Wrestling promotion, where he adopted the ring name Jinsei (Japanese for life).

In 1995, he entered the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) as a Japanese villain named Hakushi.^[1] His first few matches were highlighted by victories over jobbers and midcarders like Aldo Montoya and 1-2-3 Kid. Hakushi had a brief feud with Bret Hart and was a competitor in the 1996 Royal Rumble, where by coincidence he was eliminated by Bret Hart's brother, Owen Hart. Hakushi also famously had a three-way feud with perennial jobber Barry Horowitz and Bodydonna Skip. Horowitz, who lost for years on WWF programming to get over new talent, surprisingly used his three-quarter nelson to secure a victory over Skip. Hakushi would also fall to Horowitz soon after because of interference from Skip. It was surprising to fans, not only given Horowitz's long time losing record, but also given how well Hakushi had battled former WWF Champion Bret Hart in what had been Hakushi's first major feud in the company. Hakushi had scored well with fans during the feud with Hart. During a match on Raw against Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw, Hakushi was hit by Bradshaw's branding iron after a loss. That week on WWF Superstars, commentator Jim Ross reported that he had been so humiliated by the branding that he (kayfabe) left the WWF.

Hakushi also had a brief stint in Extreme Championship Wrestling competing in a tag team match with Hayabusa against Rob Van Dam and Sabu.

Hakushi's style of wrestling was a precursor to the luchador style which became emphasized in major wrestling promotions in the mid-2000s. As the only heavyweight wrestler in the promotion, Shinzaki has competed in major promotions such as New Japan, All Japan, and FMW, challenging their talent.

Shinzaki has been the president of Michinoku Pro Wrestling company since 2003 as a result of Sasuke dedicating more of his time to his political career as a member of the Iwate Prefectural (state) Assembly.

Shinzaki is also the co-founder of the joshi promotion Sendai Girls' Pro Wrestling along with joshi wrestler Meiko Satomura.

The 2011 Japan tsunami and quake forced Shinzaki to live in his car after his home and restaurant were destroyed.^[2]

On April 15, 2011, Shinzaki returned to the United States to wrestle for Chikara in the 2011 King of Trios tournament, where he would represent Michinoku Pro with Dick Togo and the Great Sasuke. In their first round match Team Michinoku Pro defeated Team Minnesota (1-2-3 Kid, Arik Cannon and Darin Corbin).^[3] The following day, Team Michinoku Pro defeated Jigsaw, Manami Toyota and Mike Quackenbush to advance to the semifinals of the tournament.^[4] On April 17, Team Michinoku Pro was eliminated from the tournament in the semifinal stage by F.I.S.T. (Chuck Taylor, Icarus and Johnny Gargano).^[5]

In wrestling[link]

Shinzaki performing the Ogami Watari on the 1-2-3 Kid in April 2011.

• Finishing moves
  • Koya Otoshi (Crucifix powerbomb, with theatrics)
  • Nembutsu Bomb (Sitout powerbomb, with theatrics)
  • Heavenly Lock (Straight jacket choke)

• Signature moves
  • Chokeslam
  • Diving headbutt, with theatrics
  • Diving shoulder block
  • Handspring back elbow smash
  • Mandala hineri
  • Multiple kick variations
    • Backflip
    • Mule
    • Super
  • Ogami Watari (Arm twist ropewalk chop, with theatrics)
  • Standing moonsault

• Managers
  • Shinja

Championships and accomplishments[link]

• All Japan Pro Wrestling

• AJPW All Asia Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Hayabusa

• Michinoku Pro Wrestling

• Tohoku Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with Último Dragón (1) and Gaina (2)
• Futaritabi Tag Tournament (1994) – with Super Delfin

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated

• PWI ranked him #209 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003

References[link]

Professional wrestling portal