Karate kid doing crane kick

Can the Karate Kid do karate?

Post By: 2020-11-01
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Photo courtesy of:Helgi Halldórsson from Reykjavík, Iceland, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

What are the martial arts of Cobra Kai and Myagi do?

In 2018 the series Cobra Kai hit our screens over on Youtube red and a franchise loved by a generation had new life breathed into it. Now moved to Netflix it is introducing new fans and old to the continuing story of the Karate kid.
The show works because it asks the question who is the real villain in the Karate kid story?
In the original film series, the hero Daniel was the good guy while Sensei Kreese and the students of Cobra Kai were clearly the bad guys. Yet series one of the TV show starts with Johhny painting a different picture. His narrative tells of a Daniel who stole his girl and cheated in the tournament, brought up in a household with no love and trained by a sadistic teacher, his version shows himself as the victim in the story.

But to understand all that’s happened fully we must go back to the first and original film The Karate Kid. Released in 1984 at a cost of $8 million it managed to make $90.82 million at the box office and has since gone on to earn a place in the hearts of a generation.

We wont go into the story too much here as we are looking more at the martial aspects of the series but I don’t think it would be an unfair criticism to say that even though it’s a film about martial arts it was never the level of martial arts ability that made it so popular for so long. However, there is a long and rich pedigree or real martial arts running through the franchise which we will explore in this article.
This popularity led to Karate kid 2 in 1986, Karate kid 3 in 1989 and the Next karate kid in 1994

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In 2010 the actor Will Smith’s production company who now own the rights to the franchise rebooted the original film with his son Jayden Smith and Jackie Chan playing the lead roles. Although touted as a commercial success it never seemed to capture that lightning in a bottle that the original did. As such die-hard fans can be a little critical in their response to the remake although it is visually stunning.

Although the Miyagi type role was played by Jackie Chan who is without question one of the worlds best when it comes to martial arts movies we will not focus on this particular version as it is outside of the main films and Cobra Kai series.

In 2018 the story is finally reborn with the launch of Cobra Kai. Older, certainly. Wiser,who knows? But old rivalries never really disappear, and we pick up the story around 30 yrs later where we find Johnny as a lonely drunk, financially destitute and an apparent failure in life. Meanwhile Daniel runs a successful business and lives in a large house with his family and they seem to have everything going for them.

Does Cobra Kai have the original cast in it?


Yes is the short answer. The main players of Daniel, Johnny and Kreese are all back however Mr Miyagi is no longer with us, but his spirit and presence runs through the entire show. We are also introduced to a number of new characters who breathe life into a new generation of students to become flag bearers for their respective Dojos. They have been well cast and add a new dynamic that helps propel the story along at a great pace.

.Is it suitable for kids?


Although not exactly totally kid friendly the show has been made with the same innocent feel that the originals had so the series in my opinion will be fine for teens and adults alike, although be aware the final scenes in series two may require adult discretion.

The portrayal of violence and martial arts are not graphic and shouldn’t shock or offend anyone except the most timid. The choreography is always set to family viewing mode so don’t expect Tarrintino levels of blood or Scott Aitkins technical ability.


Now we start getting down to the real questions.

Can the karate kid fight?
Was Mr Miyagi really able to kick ass?
Does Kreese know martial arts?

Let’s start at the beginning with the simple question is the Karate kid real?


Original writer Robert Mark Kamen tells us that the story is loosely autobiographical, and he wrote it after he was beaten up by bullies after attending the New York world fair in 1964. He then took up karate to learn to defend himself but says his first instructor was too violent so left to find Goju Ryu karate.


What style of martial arts is Cobra Kai?


The term Cobra Kai is actually the name of the club and not the system and what may surprise some people is that the root of their martial arts is not Karate.
The original style used by Cobra Kai is attributed to Pat E Johnson a 9th degree black belt under Chuck Norris whose core style is a Korean martial art called Tang Soo Do. Johnson appeared in the film as the referee in the final fight scenes and was responsible for creating Cobra Kai Karate. This fits in well to the story as the picture of Sensei Kreese in the Dojo depicts him as a US army karate champ from 1970-72 and many American Gi’s learned the system while stationed abroad including Chuck Norris himself. As a side note it is not true he was offered the role as Kreese originally, although Norris states he would not have taken the role anyway due to its negative portrayal of the arts.

What style of martial arts is Miyagi-Do?


The art of Miyagi- Do is attributed to Goju-Ryu karate. Even though Mr Miyagi’s stunt double was the legendary Shito-Ryu master Fumio Demura the story tells us its roots are in Goju-Ryu. From the story in Karate kid 2 when Miyagi tells us of his ancestor who accidently sailed to China where he learned the family karate through to the fact the character is actually named after the founder of Goju-Ryu Chojun Miyagi who died in 1953. Also remember the writers own training was in this system.

Does Mr Miyagi know martial arts?

Pat Morita the actor who played Mr Miyagi sadly passed away in 2005 aged 73. Unlike his character the actor was born in California and had no martial arts training. The action sequences were done by Sensei Fumio Demura in all of the movies except the karate kid 2.


Does Kreese know martial arts?

Martin Kove the actor who plays Kreese so well is the most decorated of all the people involved when it comes to martial arts. He was a student of Grandmaster Takayuki Kubota the inventor of the weapon the kubotan and celebrity trainer to many big-name stars. Kove also studied Kendo, Tae Kwon Do and Okinawa-Te.


Does Daniel know martial arts?

Ralph Macchio the student who has now become the teacher had no training prior to the first movie. He admits to a few weeks of training before filming. This he states was one of the reasons for the films success as the character was more believable.


Does Johnny know martial arts?

William Zabka aka Johnny trained for a few years as a kid and ranked to green belt. He then picked up that training again a few weeks before filming began.


Does Miguel Diaz know martial arts?

Xolo Mariduena who plays Miguel took a year of karate when young. Despite being the champion in the story he admits to working on the choreographed routines and saying those are better than his karate.


Does Robbie Keene know martial arts?

Tanner Buchanan studied Tae Kwon Do for a few years as a child reaching in his words “a few off black”. He then spent 8 months training Muay Thai for a separate role.


Does Sam Larusso know martial arts?

Mary Mouser has no background at all in martial arts and until being cast for the part had not even seen Karate kid.


Does Hawk know martial arts?

Jacob Bertrand started karate at 8 yrs old and got to purple belt. He then went on to do 2 yrs of grappling before leaving combat sports for skateboarding. He returned to training 2 months before filming began.


Does Julie know martial arts

Who? You remember, orphan Julie played by Hilary Swank in the next karate kid. Hilary also had no formal training in martial arts although had done some gymnastics prior to filming. In the movie the fights you see are performed by karate champ Christine Bannon Rodrigious. Swank went on to great success in the boxing movie Million dollar baby alongside Clint Eastwood.


Now that we have looked at the fighting pedigrees of the stars we must now go back to the story and ask one of the biggest questions of the whole series.


Was the crane kick illegal?

Practised by young wannabes everywhere after the movie came out its effectiveness in real compitition was always in question until Lyota Machida used the crane kick in UFC 129 in Toronto against Randy Couture causing a knockout and the win.

Although Machida is a high-ranking karate practitioner the kick itself doesn’t exist in Goju-Ryu but it can be found in Northern shaolin kung fu where it is called lift stance, black crow splits wings.

A depiction of the technique can be found on the cover of a book released the same year, although there are questions as to which came first.

But can you kick to the face in karate?
Although not specific regards rules, and it is a movie so the lines are blurred, we can make a few assumptions based on the information we have. Even though Johnny claims it was an illegal blow other competitors kicked to the face and scored. Also, points karate often has rules which don’t allow contact to the face with punches yet do with kicks. And finally, we have the absolute proof when Ali says in the movie.
“Everything above the waist is a point, you can hit the head, sternum, kidneys, ribs. Got it?”

Cobra Kai series 3 is coming to Netflix in January and will it be worth watching? You better believe it will.


With the finale of season 2 hailed as one of the best fight scenes so far and the stunt team of Jahnel Curfman a former gymnast and dancer and karate champion Hiro Koda already signed up for the next season it has all the signs of being even better.


Is Daniel good and Johnny bad? Or is it the other way around? Or are the lines even there anymore?


One of the great things about the series is that it stays true to the back story while spinning our previous assumptions on its head.
Remember I talked about Julie (Hilary Swank) earlier on. Maybe we will get to see her make an appearance in a future episode? Or maybe a guest visit from Ali is on the cards? 

One thing is for sure. We can’t wait for season 3!

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