Karate Bearfighter | |
Director: | Kazuhiko Yamaguchi |
Starring: | Sonny Chiba Jun Fujimaki Yumi Takigawa Yutaka Nakajima |
Music: | Shunsuke Kikuchi |
Distributor: | Toei Company |
Runtime: | 87 minutes |
Country: | Japan |
Language: | Japanese |
is a Japanese martial arts film made by Toei Company in 1975 and directed by Kazuhiko Yamaguchi. It is the second installment of a trilogy of films based on the manga Karate Baka Ichidai (literal title: "A Karate-Crazy Life") by Ikki Kajiwara, Jiro Tsunoda and Jōya Kagemaru.[1] [2] [3]
Sonny Chiba reprises his role from Champion of Death as Masutatsu Oyama, the historical founder of Kyokushin karate in Japan (Oyama makes a cameo appearance in the film as well).[3] Chiba had studied martial arts under the real-life Oyama for several years. True to the film's title, at one point in the course of the narrative he battles a "bear", actually a human actor in a bear costume.