To celebrate the addition of karate as Olympic sport, I propose you 5 Karate movies you should watch, if you really did enjoy watching this martial art during the summer Olympics.
This year a new martial art was promoted to Olympic sport: karate. Finally thousand of karatekas around the world could realize their dreams to compete for the access to the Olympics. And a few could actually participate to this big event, which took place in Japan, where karate come from. The Tokyo Olympic Games 2020 manages then to spread this martial art worldwide. Even if karate was already well known across the planet, counting more than 50 million practitioners all over the world. A lot of movie martial artists have a background in at least one style of karate, starting from the legendary Sonny Chiba. So there are countless of examples of this incredible martial art in the media.
Here 5 picks of movies focused on karate, that you really should watch:
Chiba’s movies
It is impossible not starting from Sonny Chiba and his first major success Street Fighter series. The terrible news of the past week, that reported his death by COVID-19, it is still a shock for all the people who love action, martial arts and movies in general. Sonny Chiba is the emblem of the Japanese martial artists in movies, starring in more than 200 films and 60 TV series. The Japanese actor was trained by the one and only Masutatsu Oyama, the founder of Kyokushin karate, eventually portraying him in a movie trilogy: Karate Bullfighter, Karate Bearfighter and Karate for Life.
Fighter in the Wind
Fighter in the Wind is a 2004 South Korean movie about the legendary founder of the Kyokushin karate Masutatsu Oyama. Based on the manga Karate Master, the movie of Yang Yun-ho tells the real story of Choi Bae-dal, a young Korean who went to Japan during World War II to become a fighter pilot but found a different path, becoming one of the most respected martial artist in the world, Mas Oyama.
Karate Girl
Karate Girl is a 2011 Japanese movie starring the young talent Rina Takeda. The movie takes reference to the real karate branches of the actress Rina Takeda, who was trained in Shorin-ryu karate, a very old karate style of the Ryukyu islands. The plot of the movie follow two sisters, Ayaka (Rina Takeda) and Natsuki Kurenai (Hina Tobimatsu), descendants of a legendary karate master, forced to fight each other because of an evil organization.
Kuro Obi
Kuro Obi, or Black Belt for the western audience, it is a 2007 Japanese movie about three karatekas, whose after bury their master are forced to join the Japanese Army in Manchuria. The story take place in 1932 and starred three real karate masters: Tatsuya Tanaka (7th Dan JKA Shotokan karate), Akihito Yagi (7th Dan Meibukan Goju-ryu karate) and Yuji Suzuki (1st Dan Kyokushin Karate).
The Karate Kid
The most famous Karate saga in the world does not need introduction. After four movies and three series, The Karate Kid saga delivers the spirit and the virtue of the karateka worldwide. Thanks to the fantastic work of the actors Pat Morita, Ralph Macchio and William Zabka, the saga is capable to reach every generation of karate practitioners in the world.
So what’s your favourite karate movie? Can you suggest another one?
Action is drama. If we cannot make the audience laugh, smile or cry with us, we are not actors.
Sonny Chiba
We all are going to miss you a lot Sensei, thank you for all your teachings!