Masanori Murakawa

Career

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

Related Topics:
Tohoku - Taka Michinoku - Mexico - Mask

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He is also the owner, and founder, of Michinoku Pro Wrestling in Japan, the first Japanese independent promotion not to be based around the Tokyo area.

Related Topics:
Michinoku Pro Wrestling - Tokyo

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In 2002, he briefly turned heel and started using the name "SASUKE", using blue stripes on his mask instead of the red stripes shown in the photo above. However, Jinsei Shinzaki brought him back from the dark side by "exorcising the evil out of him".

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On April 13, 2003, the Great 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.

Related Topics:
Iwate - Antonio Inoki - Hiroshi Hase - Atsushi Onita - Japanese Diet

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