title: Masaru
text: # Masaru
  
  Masaru (まさる, マサル) is a masculine Japanese given name.
  
  ## Possible writings
  
  Masaru can be written using different kanji characters and can mean:
  
  * 勝, "excel"
  * 優, "excel"
  * 大, "large"
  * 将 or 將, "commander"
  
  The name can also be written in hiragana or katakana.
  
  ## People with the name
  
  * Masaru Akiba (勝), a Japanese football player
  * Masaru Emoto (勝), a Japanese author
  * Masaru Furukawa (勝), a Japanese swimmer and olympic champion
  * Masaru Fuse (布施 勝, born 1969), Japanese equestrian
  * Gagamaru Masaru (勝), a Georgian sumo wrestler
  * Masaru Hamaguchi (優), Japanese comedian
  * Masaru Hayami (優), the 28th Governor of the Bank of Japan
  * Masaru Ibuka (大), a Japanese electronics industrialist
  * Masaru Ikeda (勝), a Japanese actor and voice actor
  * Grant Masaru Imahara, an American electronics and radio control expert
  * Masaru Inada (勝), a Japanese skeleton racer
  * Inoue Masaru (勝), a Japanese samurai known as the "father of the Japanese railways"
  * Masaru Kanbe (神戸 勝, born 1938), Japanese field hockey player
  * Masaru Katori (まさる), a female Japanese writer and manga author
  * Masaru Kageura (將), a Japanese baseball player
  * Masaru Kato (加藤 大, born 1991), Japanese footballer
  * Masaru Kitao (勝), a Japanese animator
  * Masaru Konuma (勝), a Japanese director
  * Masaru Kurotsu (勝), a Japanese football player
  * Kyokutenhō Masaru (勝), a Mongolian sumo wrestler
  * Masaru Matsuhashi (優), a Japanese football player
  * Masaru Motegi (茂木 優, born 1950), Japanese sport wrestler
  * Masaru Edward Fulenwider-Musashi, a Wushu martial artist, stuntman, and an actor
  * Masaru Nagaoka (長岡 勝, born 1962), Japanese ski jumper
  * Masaru Nakamura (中村 勝, born 1991), Japanese baseball player
  * Masaru Ogawa (勝), a Japanese figure skater
  * Masaru Saito (齊藤 勝, born 1988), Japanese baseball player
  * Masaru Sakurai (賢), a member of the Japanese musical group The Alfee
  * Masaru Sato (勝), a Japanese composer
  * Masaru Shimabukuro (優), a member of the Okinawan music band Begin
  * Masaru Shintani, a Japanese-Canadian Karate master
  * Masaru Takumi (勝), a Japanese yakuza
  * Masaru Tobita (将), known as Survival Tobita, a Japanese professional wrestler
  * Wakanohana Masaru (勝), a Japanese sumo wrestler
  * Masaru Wakasa (若狭 勝, born 1956), Japanese lawyer and politician
  
  ## Fictional characters
  
  * Masaru (マサル), a character in the manga and animated film Akira
  * Masaru Daimon (Marcus Damon in the English dub), a character from the anime series Digimon Savers
  * Masaru Kato (勝), a character from the anime and manga series Gantz
  * Masaru Aoki of Hajime no Ippo
  * Masaru Sera, the Third Chairman of the Tojo Clan in the first game in the Yakuza series
     * Masaru Watase, the Waka gashira of the Omi Alliance in Yakuza 5
  * Masaru "Echo" Enatsu, an SAT operative in Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege.
  * Masaru Daimon, a character in Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls.
  * Masaru Bakugou (爆豪 勝), Katsuki Bakugo's father and the husband of Mitsuki Bakugo in the manga and anime My Hero Academia
  * Konaka Masaru (Japanese name for Redd White), a character in Ace Attorney
  