Jinsei Shinzaki

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Kensuke Shinzaki


Statistics
Ring name(s)	"The White Angel" Hakushi, Nihon Kamikaze, Mongolian Yuga, Jinsei Shinzaki
Billed height	180 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Billed weight	102 kg (223 lb)
Born	December 12, 1966 Tokushima, Tokushima
Debut	1991

Kensuke Shinzaki (新崎健介 Shinzaki Kensuke, born December 2, 1966 in Tokushima, Tokushima) 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 gimmick, a Buddhist monk.

[edit] Career

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 Jinsei (Japanese for life) stage given name. In 1995, he entered the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) as a Japanese heel.

Hakushi had a brief feud with Bret Hart and was a competitor in Royal Rumbles in the early to mid 1990s. Hakushi also famously had a three-way feud with perennial jobber Barry Horowitz and Chris Candido, then known as Body Donna Skip. Horowitz, who lost for years on WWE programming to get over new talent, surprisingly used his three-quarter nelson to secure a victory over Skip for his first ever WWE win. Hakushi would also fall to Horowitz soon after because of interference from Skip. It was surprising to fans, not only given Horowitz long time losing record, but also given how well Hakushi had battled former WWE champion Bret Hart in what had been Hakushi's first major feud in the league. Hakushi had scored well with fans during the feud with Hart, despite never gaining the title.

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.