Yakuza!

[Tato]

This thread is loosing his... thread, and decency, and...

I gona tell my mama! you #@#!!! obsesed people!



Rei

[Paburo]

tato c'mon.
if you get easily offended by kinky stuff like this....

you might not be suitable to read the yakuza story i posted.
and you might not want to jigeiko with me from now on

[sminki]

ugh. I for one, thought that the kendo scene in Black Rain was horrible. Better than most movies, granted, but still bad. People didn't do good kendo at all and no proper procedure taken before removing men, etc... That guy (Taka something Ken) breaking Michael Douglas' shinai in half was very unrealistic too.

And that was supposed to be the Osaka police department kenshi!!!!

[KhawMengLee]

How about the scene from The Hunted...some of the kendo looked good but the last person he hit with a weird waza...the kid was coming for men and he pushed the shinai aside with his forehand and went for the one handed men...

also same thing...no proper kendo ettiquette....

[Goyaman]

I shoulda checked this thread earlier, seems it's lost its momentum in the last few days and it's wandered from the original question, but I'll add a last-gasp post...

BTW, the movie "The Yakuza" was made in 1974 and directed by Sydney Pollack, who was a big-name director at that time. Good action and cast. There's a sequence that shows slow kirikaeshi at a kendo practice qued by a taiko, and then--inexplicably--Takakura Ken does the Iaido Ipponme kata before the practice ends. I guess Pollack thought that it would look cool and exotic.

The kendo sequence in "The Hunted" is kinda odd, since it shows the character of Takeda practicing with 4 other people at once...can you imagine doing jigeiko like that? Might be fun.

FWIW, one of my own favorite guilty pleasure movies is "The Challenge" (1982) directed by John Frankenheimer with the one and only Toshiro Mifune and Scott Glenn. No kendo per se in it, but you *do* get to see some sequences of practice with bokuto and tameshigiri. The dinner sequence is also big fun.

[stevemcgee99]

Here here on the ipponme during kirikaeshi comment.

Well, THe Yakuza is VERY cliche, just not in US cinema. It's a formula "meiji/taisho" yakuza flick, caled ninkyo. Unrealistic (using swords), full of giri, short hair, and starring Takakura Ken.

I stronly recommend The Wolves by Gosha Hideo. Has one of my favorites, Nakadai Tatsuya, and just rocks- with a great 70's japanese violent movie soundtrack!

I did like Black Rain however. I thought the way Douglass mispronounced "Sato" the entire time was very realistic.

And, I just saw Mr. Baseball- great flick! My nihongo teacher lent it to me- she's a Takakura Ken nut (otaku? I've been wondering about the correct use of that).

[KhawMengLee]

I just realised that the guy who plays Sugai(the big Oyabun who helps Mr Douglas get Sato) in Black Rain is Tomisaburo Wakayama. For those of the uninitiated Mr Wakayama is the big badass daddy'o who plays Ogami Itto from the Lone Wolf and Cub series.

http://www.mightyblowhole.com/lonewolf/babycart.htm

COOOOL

[stevemcgee99]

Wakayama is in many of the 70's ninkyo as well with Ken.

[weldon87]

yall should rent the movie Brother at blockbuster it has english and japanease in it,the movie is about the yakuza and omar epps is in the movie as well ,you see him when the main character comes to the U.S.
you'll see pinkies cut off and stomachs cut in as well as and many ppl getting shot by bullets.

[Hongsermeier]

A small back track here to the original question. Is it true? yes! I was in Japan last week. While out having dinner a group of three men walked in and sat down a couple tables away. They were very nicley dressed and it was apparent people gave them a lot of respect. I looked at my wife and asked very quietly "yakuza?".
She nodded her head but said nothing. When one of them got up and walked past us I did notice he was missing the first knuckle on his left little finger. This man was seated on the end of the table and poured the other guys drinks. So I assume they were higher ranked than he was. Neither of the other two were missing any of their little fingers.