Shōgen

Shogen Itokazu (尚玄 , born 20 June 1978) , known mononymously as Shogen, is a Japanese actor. He is best known for his role as Nao Tsuchiyama in Gensan Punch, which had a joint win for the Kim Jiseok award with The Rapist at the 26th Busan International Film Festival.

Shogen originally worked as a model in Paris, Milan, and London. In 2004, he returned to Japan and acted in his debut film, Bloody Snake Under the Sun, which was nominated at the 20th Tokyo International Film Festival. After this experience, he developed an interest in acting and travelled to New York for lessons.

In 2018, he pitched a film idea to Brillante Mendoza at the 31st Tokyo International Film Festival through mutual friend Eric Khoo. The film would later become Gensan Punch, a story inspired by his friend Nao Tsuchiyama, a Japanese boxer with a prosthetic leg.

For the role, Shogen exercised five to six times a week to look like a boxer. He also used tape to tie his ankles and legs, then performed punches to imitate the movements of disabled people.

Gensan Punch later premiered at the Tokyo and Busan film festivals. The latter of which awarded the film the Kim Jiseok award in a joint win with The Rapist.

In 2022, he starred in December, which was nominated the Kim Jiseok award at the 27th Busan International Film Festival.

In 2022, he married singer May J. and they had a child in 2023.