The transcript below is from the video “A true Japanese master who helped Bruce Lee master nunchaku (Yasuaki Kurata)” by Ностальгия TV Интересные факты.
Ностальгия TV Интересные факты:
Hello friends. Yasuuki Kurata along with Sony Chiba are called the best gift that Japan has given to the martial arts genre. He is one of the most versatile and talented fighters in the history of martial arts cinema, having played many negative roles in Chinese action films. The actor was born in 1946 in the Japanese prefecture of Ibaraki, and although Japanese cinema during his childhood was on the rise, his parents were preparing his son for another.
The old people were sure that the offspring would become a professional athlete. Indeed, by the age of 30, Kurata already had several black belts, 5 dan in karate, 3 in judo and 2 in aikido. But he gained wide fame not as an athlete Seizu Kurata, but as the star of Asian fighters Yasuaki Kurata. In the mid-1960s, he attended the highly respected theater department. Then he entered the theater school of Toi, famous in those years, which still belongs to the studio of the same name, which did a lot to promote Japanese cinema.
Ностальгия TV Интересные факты:
It was this studio that launched the careers of such international stars as Kenta Kapuro and Sonia Chiba. The legend of Yasuaki Kurata begins in 1971 when a 25-year-old athlete comes to Hong Kong in search of work. The fact that he spoke fluent Cantonese helped him quickly get used to it . According to the actor himself, in 1971, while visiting Golden Harbas studios, he met Bruce Lee.
Bruce and Kurata discussed their shared passion for martial arts. Yasuaki gave Bruce a pair of nunchaku. Kurata claims that he was the one who taught Bruce how to use the nunchaku. The directors drew attention to Kurata and soon Yasuaki was promoted from a stuntman to a negative character who opposes the main characters in battles and at the same time looks like a worthy rival.
Ностальгия TV Интересные факты:
In addition to his attractive Eurasian appearance and expressive facial expressions, Kurat’s hallmarks were his physical abilities, thanks to which he had a direct road to militants. His flexible and varied fighting style was distinguished by the grace of movement. Moreover, this style was not the merit of the director or operator, but was formed as a result of many years of training in martial arts.
After the end of World War II and the expulsion of the Japanese invaders from China, the inhabitants of the land of the rising sun firmly took the place of the main villains in Chinese cinema. Almost always, these villains were played by the Chinese themselves, but then Kurata appears, a tall, slender, handsome and dangerous worthy rival for any Chinese hero.
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In 1979, they were looking for a Japanese martial artist for the lead role in a film about the martial arts of Japan and China. Kurata played the role of a teacher and former lover of a Japanese girl who is marrying a Chinese kung fu master. Kurata’s character knows the art of ninjutsu and engages in several excellent combat scenes with the kung fu veteran Gordon Liu.
This film not only demonstrated that there is no superior martial art, but also paid tribute to both sides, who for many years have been portrayed in the cinema as bitter rivals. In 1994, Kurata flashed in The Fist of Legend with Jet Li. Their fight is considered one of the best in Hong Kong cinema. He also starred in a French martial arts film.
Ностальгия TV Интересные факты:
During his many years of career, he has worked in Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan and France. In addition to acting as a producer, he is also the owner of a stunt school. In 2004, he published a book of his memoirs about his work in Chinese cinema. Suaki Kurata is truly a living martial arts legend and a true Japanese master. We like and subscribe to the channel so as not to miss the next videos.
