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Sho Kosugi's Story: Rise of the Ninja

Martial artist mid-air flip, wearing white pants and black shoes, on dark stage. Text: "Life as a Martial Arts Performer, What It's Really Like."
Two "Black Belt Magazine" covers featured; one with a woman in a hat, the other with a man in a red gi. Spring '25 issue promotion.

Before ninjas were everywhere—from cartoons and video games to Halloween costumes—there was Sho Kosugi, the man who helped introduce the mysterious, masked martial artist to Western audiences and turned ninja films into a full-blown pop culture phenomenon.


In the 1980s, if there was a ninja on screen, chances are it was Kosugi—silent, swift, and deadly.


Born in Tokyo in 1948, Sho Kosugi began martial arts training at age 5, eventually earning black belts in karate and kendo, and studying judo and ninjutsu. He moved to Los Angeles in his twenties, where he worked odd jobs before landing a breakout role in Enter the Ninja (1981).

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