Media Monday.

On this Media Monday we will be looking at Sonny Chiba. "Who is Sonny Chiba?" you ask. Well check after the jump to find out.

Before we get into Sonny Chiba I need to explain something. I have never been a big fan of Bruce Lee. You see when I was coming of age in the late 80's and through the 90's actors like Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and Donnie Yen were becoming more popular. In fact I was at just the right age to be hit by the onslaught of Jackie Chan movies. Before that I had been a huge fan of Jean Claude Van Damme. In fact the only Bruce Lee movie I have seen from beginning to end was Enter the Dragon, and I found John Saxon and Jim Kelly's characters more interesting than Bruce.

Sometime during the mid to late 90's while staying up late watching TV I got my first taste of Sonny Chiba. I was watching either TNT or TBS. I can't remember which. Anyway the showed the schedule for that night. One of the titles caught my eye. The Street Fighter. I thought it was the Jean Claude Van Damme Street Fighter and decided to stay up to watch it. Don't judge me. Low and behold it was in fact a 1970's movie from Japan. I didn't watch it. I was tired and upset at the lack of Van Damme.

Fast forward a couple of years and I saw that my dad had a copy of The Street Fighter on DVD. I decided to watch it. I was blown the Fuck away. Sonny Chiba was so bad-ass in that movie that he immediately became one of my favorite martial arts actors. Now you may be wondering what this has to do with Bruce lee. Well Sonny Chiba was Bruce Lee turned up to 11. That's not to say that Sonny Chiba was a rip off. No he had some similar mannerisms but that isn't what I am talking about. When I say Sonny Chiba was Bruce Lee turned up to 11, I meant in energy and fury.

While the characters that Bruce played had and air of philosophy to them Sonny Chiba's had and air of blood. Mainly because he had just killed a bunch of guys and the blood was everywhere. Of course that's just my impression of him. Let's look deeper.

Sonny (Shinichi) Chiba was born on January 23, 1939 under the name Sadaho Maeda in Fukuoka, Fukuoka, Japan. He was the third of five children in the family of a military test pilot. As a child and teenager he very active in a number of sports. Such as baseball, volleyball, a number of track and field sports, and artistic gymnastics. Artistic gymnastics being his most successful. He won the National Sports Festival of Japan when he was in the third grade. He went to Nippon Sport Science University in 1957 and earned a place on the Japanese Olympic team until a back injury ended that. While at college he began to study martial arts under the Kyokushin Karate master Masutatsu "Mas" Oyama. Remember that because it will be important later. He became a first degree black belt on October 1965, and a fourth degree on January 20, 1984. Eventually he was discovered in a talent search by the Toei Film studio. He began acting on television in Tokusatsu shows and eventually had his first movie role.

He has had such a long and accomplished career that I can't go into to much detail without going on for quite a while. Instead I will hit a few highlights. Firstly if you look at the picture above you will see Sonny and Vivica A. Fox. You might think that is an odd pairing. It isn't. You see Sonny Chiba costarred in Kill Bill volume one. He played the character Hatori Hanzo. The descendant of a character he played in a show called Kage no Gundano (Shadow Warriors). The character was based on an actual 16th centry samurai.

Sonny is mainly known however for the Street Fighter trilogy. In which he played the character of Takura Tsurugi a martial arts master for hire. Tsurugi is not an honorable master or even a likable rogue. No he is a down right dirty bastard. The kind of guy that will sell your sister in prostitution if you don't pay him. Even with that he is still so bad-ass that you can't help but like the guy. He even has a few redeeming moments. Like when he saves a girl from rape. By ripping the rapist's dick off with his bare Fucking hands. In the later movies he tops that by hitting a guy so hard in the back of the head that his eyes pop out of their sockets. The Streetfighter movies are pure exploitation goodness.

The above video is the trailer for he movie Karate Bullfighter. It is the first in a trilogy of movies about Masutatsu "Mas" Oyama. You remember him from earlier right? The man that taught Chiba Kyokushin Karate? Well Chiba decided to star in the movies about his master's life. In these movies the character played by Chiba uses karate to fight and kill both a bull and a bear. These event supposedly happened. I can't say with any certainty that they did, but I will say this I fully believe Sonny Chiba could Karate a bear to death.

During his career Sonny has played every type of hero character. From samurai, ninja, cop, and even comic book characters. He played the much loved Japanese Manga character Golgo 13 and appeared in the adaptation of the Chinese comic The Storm Riders. Sonny Chiba was able to not only be the Japanese version Bruce Lee but also the Japanese version of Chuck Norris, and then grow beyond both of those descriptions.

I can talk about Chiba for hours. I won't. Instead I will end by telling you just how bad-ass the man is. He has black belts in Kyokushin Karate (4th Dan), Ninjutsu (4th Dan), Goju-ryu Karate (2nd Dan), Judo (2nd Dan), Kendo (1st Dan), and Shorinji Kempo (1st Dan). He also founded the Japan Action Club, which is an organization that aims to develop and raise the level of martial arts techniques and sequences used in Japanese film and television. Speaking of which Sonny has appeared in over 140 movies and TV shows. With that many credits to his name, there is sure to be something that tickles you fancy. I highly recomend the Street fighter series.

Which won't be hard to find. The first movie is in the public domain. It is available everywhere. Including on the Internet free for view. Just hit the link below to watch the movie at the Cinemasnob.com.

Amazon
Wikipedia
Youtube
Cinemasnob