Karate Bearfighter

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Karate Bearfighter is a Japanese martial arts film made by Toei Company in 1977 and directed by Kazuhiko Yamaguchi. It is the second installment of a trilogy of films based on the manga Karate Baka Ichidai (literal title: "The Fanatical Karate Generation") by Jiro Tsunoda. Karate Bearfighter is also known under its original Japanese title, Kenka Karate Kyokushin Burai Ken (けんか空手　極真無頼拳), literally "Fighting Karate-Ultimate Truth Brutal Fist".

In the film, a piece of grindhouse cinema, Sonny Chiba reprises his role from Champion of Death as Masutatsu Oyama, the historical founder of Kyokushin karate in Japan. Chiba was an interesting choice for the role, as he 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.

[edit] External links

• Karate Bearfighter at the Internet Movie Database.