Karate Bullfighter (1975)

A pulp fiction account of the life of Kyokushin karate founder Masutatsu Oyama (Sonny Chiba) who emerges from two years of solitude on a mountain to become one of Japan’s most celebrated karate masters.

In Karate Bullfighter, Sonny Chiba takes on the role of his real life karate sensei, the famed champion fighter and instructor Masutatsu Oyama in the first part of a trilogy of karate movies. Rather than offer up an authentic portrayal of a man who was already a living legend for his exploits and accomplishments, Chiba follows the exploitive trends of the ’70s to create a fast-moving actioner replete with carnal bloodletting, rape and struggles against domineering US servicemen and insidious karate rivals.

The plot is episodic and probably intentionally resembles the life of famed swordsman Miyamoto Musashi who traipsed across Japan nearly four centuries prior to duel with unorthodox methods and unusual strength. It’s 1949 and Korean-born martial artist Masutatsu Oyama (Sonny Chiba) emerges from two years in solitude to capture Japan’s first karate championship since World War II. But seeing as how karate competitions have been reduced to a non-contact “dance,” Oyama places little value in his achievement and settles in Tokyo as a rickshaw driver. However, his impressive victory has left a big impression on three people who Oyama is destined to meet again. The first is Ariake (Jiro Chiba), a low level competitor who desperately wants to become his pupil. Though at first reluctant, Oyama eventually concedes, but ultimately to his regret for Ariake lacks any sense of morality and puts his newfound skills towards advancing himself and harming others. Nanba (Masashi Ishibashi) is the finalist who lost to Oyama. He redoubles his efforts in training and becomes obsessed with beating Oyama in a rematch. Then there is Nakasone (Mikio Narita), a respected karate sensei who sees Oyama as crude and a threat to what he perceives as the only true style of karate. He eventually plots to kill Oyama. As Oyama deals with these people, he also kicks off a rocky relationship with a beautiful woman (Yumi Takigawa) from his past, has a run-in with a yakuza thug and comes to the rescue of villagers when a mad bull goes on a rampage.

The life of Masutatsu Oyama is fascinating enough that it really isn’t necessary to fictionalize it. Already having been a top-level martial artist in Korea, Oyama relocated to Japan where he studied karate and quickly rose to the top within the local martial arts community. He volunteered as an airman towards the end of World War II (Chiba briefly appears in a flight uniform in a flashback). After the war he went to live in seclusion for two years on Mt. Minobu to refine his abilities. He came back down in 1949 and lived near a slaughterhouse where he would test his skills on cattle, thus making the “bullfighter” tag somewhat true. He went on to tour outside Japan and promoted his Kyokushin style of karate. He had a profound impact on Sonny Chiba and even acted as a consultant on Karate Bullfighter, which is strange considering that he isn’t shown in the best light. His screen persona rapes a woman at one point and engages in excessively-brutal acts of violence after spending considerable effort to erase his guilt for past crimes. As this account and even South Korea’s more recent Fighter in the Wind (2004) shows, what appears to appeal most to filmmakers is not Oyama himself, but his legend which grew tremendously in the early ’70s when a popular manga series featuring Oyama was published.

Karate Bullfighter attempts to paint Oyama as a conflicted man with incredible physical power and self discipline, but little finesse or self control in heated situations. This results in a lot of frustration and doubt, but no resolution. At one point he asks himself, “Can’t karate be anything else besides a weapon?” His only answer comes after he discovers that Nakasone sent a hitman after him. He responds by openly challenging him in what is certain to be a fight to the death. Thus, he’s doomed to continue using his skills to harm others and provide us with more gratuitous action.

On the subject of harm, there is plenty of that going around in this film. While it may not be a great drama, Karate Bullfighter is a terrific karate actioner with Chiba dishing out serious hurt. This is especially true towards the end when he spears one victim through the skull. The episodic narrative limits the buildup to the fights that often seem incidental, but they’re entertaining on their own. The chaotic bullfight is well-edited with Chiba clearly working with a real animal, but even a casual examination of the bull’s temperament reveals that the fight is hardly as desperate as the filmmakers would like us to believe.

Chiba is working with many of his usual team players including actor Jiro Chiba who displays some good moves along with Chiba himself and director Kazuhiko Yamaguchi who was obviously inspired by the stylized yakuza flicks of the early ’70s and captures all of the action with flair. Masashi Ishibashi, who played Chiba’s memorable nemesis Junjo in the Street Fighter series, plays a similar role as Chiba’s main competitive rival. Where Chiba’s takedown of Mikio Narita (Zatoichi and the Chess Expert) as Nakasone is a little anticlimactic, his duel with Ishibashi adequately provides the film’s final climax as the two face off.

The martial arts itself is a good contrast to the sparring kung fu flicks of the day. Where Chinese fighters would trade a long and elaborate series of moves, Chiba accurately shows how karate’s more direct approach leads to very quick and efficient takedowns. It’s also interesting to see that Chiba’s character is not above throwing sand in his adversary’s face. His response to a fighter wielding nunchaku is priceless and could illicit comparisons to a certain scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Viewers will notice Chiba cutting lose with some rather odd noises during his fights. This is not some rip on Bruce Lee’s distinctive battle cries, but rather a part of his karate style that places great emphasis on breathing for power-building. It’s another form of the traditional karate Kiai shout. On film it has a similar dramatic effect to what Lee produced.

Karate Bullfighter is one more in Sonny Chiba’s string of similar exploitation flicks that really kicked off with The Street Fighter (1974). While the karate style action is fairly good, the story is lacking focus and fails to do the real-life subject justice. This should still be good enough for Chiba fans.