Kenji Kazama | |
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Born | Minoru Tsutsui 1943 Aichi Prefecture, Japan |
Other names | Ken Kazama, Kenji Kazuma, Ken Kazuma, Kazuma Kenji, Fung Gaan Kin |
Occupation(s) | Film actor, fight director |
Kenji Kazama is a Japanese (martial artist). He played the henchman Spider who fought Fred Williamson in the 1973 action film That Man Bolt and he played Yokohama a mean and brutal Japanese official who fought Jhoon Rhee in the 1973 martial arts classic When Taekwondo Strikes . In 1974 he played the part of Senkaku Kan in the Sonny Chiba cult classic The Street Fighter .
Ken Kazama was born Minoru Tsutsui in Aichi Prefecture, Japan in 1943. He won the Karate Championship in 1961 and won a Shorinji Kempo Championship in 1963. During the mid-1960s, he established at Shorinji Kempo Nagoya Chuo-doin school. He also established Shorinji Kempo Clubs at the Aichi Gakuin University and the Chukyo Joshi Tanki University. In the late 1960s, he won a middleweight kickboxing championship in South Korea. Also with Shinichi Chiba he founded the Japan Action Club (JAC). [1]
In When Taekwondo Strikes , a 1973 martial arts film that featured Jhoon Rhee, Angela Mao Ying, Carter Wong, Anne Winton and Sammo Hung, Kazama was cast as Yokohama. [2] [3] He had one of climactic fights with the hero's taking him on. [4] [5] [6] Kazama's role of Spider in That Man Bolt was that of a long time adversary to the main character, Bolt (Played by Fred Williamson) who takes him on in a fight. [7] [8] Following his role in the 1973 film, he was appearing the following year in Sonny Chiba's film, The Street Fighter . [9] He also had another role in the film as action director. [10] [11] In the sequel to the film, Return of the Street Fighter , he was credited as kick boxing director. [12] In 1976 he had the lead role in a film called Karate From Shaolin Temple which also featured Henry Yu Yung, Fung Ngai, Henry Yu Yung and Bill Lake. [13] [14]
Also in the 70s, Kazama recorded a song, "Forever Bruce Lee" and released on a 45 RPM single, Tam YT-1081. [15] [16]
Title | Role | Director | Year | Notes # |
---|---|---|---|---|
Gangster Cop aka Yakuza deka | Kazamaki | Yukio Noda | 1970 | as Ken Kazama |
When Taekwondo Strikes aka Tai quan zhen jiu zhou | Yokohama | Feng Huang | 1973 | as Kenji Kazama |
That Man Bolt | Spider | David Lowell Rich, Henry Levin | 1974 | as Ken Kazama |
The Street Fighter aka Gekitotsu! Satsujin ken | Senkaku Kan | Shigehiro Ozawa | 1974 | as Ken Kazama |
Karate from Shaolin Temple aka Shorinji Kempo: Musashi Hong Kong ni arawaru (少林寺拳法 ムサシ香港に現わる) | Musashi Yamanaka | Hideo Nanbu | 1976 | Lead role as Ken Kazama |
Angel Guts aka Jokôsei: tenshi no harawata | Yakuza | Chûsei Sone | 1978 | as Ken Kazama |
Sûpâ gun redei Wani Bunsho | Shimokawa | Chûsei Sone | 1979 | as Ken Kazama |
Station akaEki | Yasuo Furuhata | 1981 | as Ken Kazama | |
Kill Devil | Yuichi Onuma | 2004 | as Ken Kazama | |
Title | Episode | Role | Director | Year | Notes # |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Daitokai - Tatakai no hibi | "Episode #2.52" | Jun Iwasaki | 1978 | ||
Title | Role | Director | Year | Notes # |
---|---|---|---|---|
The Streetfighter | Kickboxing direction | Shigehiro Ozawa | 1974 | |
Return of the Street Fighter | Kickboxing direction | Shigehiro Ozawa | 1974 | |
The Real Miyagi | Himself | Kevin Derek | 2015 | [17] |
Shaolin kung fu, also called Shaolin Wushu, or Shaolin quan, is one of the oldest, largest, and most famous styles of wushu, or kung fu of Chan Buddhism. It combines Chan philosophy and martial arts. It was developed in the Shaolin Temple in Henan province, Greater China during its 1500-year history. Popular sayings in Chinese folklore related to this practice include "All martial arts under heaven originated from Shaolin" and "Shaolin kung fu is the best under heaven," indicating the influence of Shaolin kung fu among martial arts. The name Shaolin is also used as a brand for the so-called external styles of kung fu. Many styles in southern and northern China use the name Shaolin.
Kenpō is the name of several arts. The word kenpō is a Japanese translation of the Chinese word "quánfǎ" which literally just means "fist method" or "striking method". This term is often informally transliterated as "kempo", as a result of applying Traditional Hepburn romanization, but failing to use a macron to indicate the long vowel. The word Kenpō translates thus: "Ken" meaning 'Fist' and "Po" meaning 'Method' or 'Law' as in 'Law of gravity', a correct interpretation of the word Kenpō would be 'Fist Method', the same meaning as 'Quanfa'. However, it is often misinterpreted as 'the Law of the Fist'. The generic nature of the term combined with its widespread, cross-cultural adoption in the martial arts community has led to many divergent definitions.
Shorinji Kempo is a Japanese martial art claimed to be a modified version of Shaolin Kung Fu. The name Shōrinji Kempo is the Japanese reading of Shàolínsì Quánfǎ. It was established in 1947 by Doshin So [born Michiomi Nakano], a Japanese martial artist and former military intelligence agent who lived in China for many years before and during World War II.
Shinichi Chiba, known internationally as Sonny Chiba, was a Japanese actor and martial artist. Chiba was one of the first actors to achieve stardom through his skills in martial arts, initially in Japan and later before an international audience.
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The Street Fighter, originally titled in Japan as Gekitotsu! Satsujin-ken, is a 1974 Japanese martial arts film produced by Toei Company, directed by Shigehiro Ozawa, and starring Sonny Chiba. It was released in the United States by New Line Cinema and became one of the first films to be a commercial success for the distributor. It is notable as the first film to receive an X-rating in the US solely for violence.
Ansatsuken is a Japanese neologism used frequently in fictional works to describe any martial art style or fighting technique that has been developed with the purpose of killing an opponent. The term satsujinken is used interchangeably as well and the homophonous term satsujinken is used when the martial art style or technique explicitly revolves around swordsmanship rather than barehanded combat.
Ryuchi Matsuda - born Masashi Matsuda - was a Japanese scholar of Chinese martial arts from Okazaki City, Aichi Prefecture. "Ryuchi" was his Dharma name when he was a Shingon priest of Toji Temple.
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