On August 19, 2021, at the age of 82, the legendary Japanese actor, director and martial artist died from coronavirus. Sonny Chiba. On the modern Internet he is often announced as an actor from "Kill Bill" (2003), who played Hattori Hanzo, but this role does not reflect even a microscopic part of Sonny's contribution to cinema.
Sonny Chiba (real name Sadaho Maeda) born January 22, 1939 was born in the Japanese city of Fukuoka and was the third of five children. His father was a pilot in the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service, and his mother competed in track and field in her youth. When Sonny was four years old, his family moved to the city of Kimitsu, located in Chiba Prefecture.
At school, the physical education teacher advised Chiba (then Sadaho Maeda) to take up rhythmic gymnastics. As a result, Sonny competed in four Chiba Prefectural sports championships. He continued to play sports throughout high school and won the Japan National Sports Festival in his third year, becoming a candidate for a spot on the Japanese Olympic team, but a back injury derailed his Olympic career. Around this period, Sonny developed an interest in cinema.
In 1957, Chiba entered the Japan University of Sports Sciences. While studying at the university, he begins to study martial arts from a famous Kyokushin karate master. Masutatsu Oyama. On October 15, 1965, Chiba received a first degree black belt, and 20 years later he received a fourth degree black belt. In the future, Chiba will receive 4th dan in ninjutsu, 2nd dan in goju-ryu, 2nd dan in Shorinji Kempo, 2nd dan in judo and 1st dan in kendo.
In 1960, Chiba entered a talent competition organized by a famous Japanese film studio. Toei, and this is where his acting career begins. It was then that his first pseudonym was born Shinichi Chiba.
Chiba starts on television in tokusatsu series "Seven-color mask" (or "Spectral Mask") and "Messenger of Allah", and his first leading role in a full-length feature film is science fiction "Invasion of the People from Neptune" (1961).
Then he starred in crime action films about the yakuza, where he continued to show his martial arts skills, but his breakthrough role was the film "Street Fighter" 1973, after which two more sequels were released. It was a powerful and brutal action movie with an X rating, which not only did not prevent Chiba from showing himself in all his glory, but rather, on the contrary, freed his hands. Techniques from this film, featuring mutilation of opponents in the form of x-ray vision, are believed to have influenced the game series Mortal Kombat. From this point on, Chiba's career took off and he became the flagship of Japanese martial arts in cinema, starring in one action film after another, entering the international market. It was then that the pseudonym Shinichi Chiba with the light hand of the founder of New Line Cinema Roberta Shay turns into Sonny Chiba. In these fruitful 70s, Chiba opens Japan Action Club - a school for Japanese actors and stuntmen, where a star of Japanese and world cinema studied Hiroyuki Sanada. Separately, I would like to note Chiba’s on-screen embodiment of his teacher Masutatsu Oyama in the trilogy "Doomed to Solitude" (1975-1977).
Crime action films, samurai cinema, action-packed thrillers and theater directing, staging battle scenes, training young actors and stuntmen - merits Sonny Tiba can be listed endlessly. Until 2018, he continued to be active in the film industry, starring in more than 180 films. Quentin Tarantino called "Street Fighter" - number 13 on the list of his favorite films of the grindhouse genre and in 2003 called Sonny to "Kill Bill".
The first thing that catches your eye when watching films with Chiba, especially those made in his younger years, is the incredible energy and power that comes from Sonny. Burning eyes, rage, fantastic charisma - this is exactly what the main character in an action movie should look like!
To a modern viewer, films with Chiba will seem naive, but action cinema as a genre simply would not exist without such characters. Many called him "Japanese Bruce Lee“And yes, there was a certain similarity in presentation, but still Chiba was an original and self-sufficient personality who seemed on the screen to be a hero and an anti-hero at the same time and simply blew up Japanese and international combat cinema.
And martial arts fans would give a lot to bring Sonny and Bruce together on screen. Maybe they will clash in heaven, who knows?
Rest in peace, Sonny.
I am waiting. I hope there will be something exciting.
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