The 1970s and 1980s were the heyday of Hong Kong action movies, and kung fu fans could see a wonderful variety of films, in addition to benefiting from many super powerful martial arts fingers, but also inseparable from every powerful kung fu star.
In a sense, a high-quality kung fu film requires actors with real kung fu to complete it better. Today, the reason why it is difficult to see the fist-to-flesh, thrilling action movies of the past is actually very simple: with the advent of the powerful era of science and technology, the powerful stars are gradually aging, the new generation of action stars are not connected, and the "special effects kung fu films" have gradually replaced the "traditional martial arts movies", which is undoubtedly a disappointment and helplessness for fans who are keen on action movies.
Kurata Yasuaki
When it comes to Kurata Hosaki, perhaps today's children know very little about it, but I have to say that although he is a Japanese artist, he has witnessed the rise and fall of Hong Kong action movies and is one of the indispensable stars in the Chinese film industry. The most important thing is that he has devoted his life to his acting career, and has been loyal to martial arts all his life, emphasizing martial arts, and cultivating many talents for the film industry, and his professionalism is worth emulating and learning.
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Born in 1946 in Ibaraki Prefecture, near Tokyo, Japan, Kurata was the son of a "practicing family" who was particularly skilled in karate and was involved in other martial arts.
Kurata Hosaki's childhood, due to the influence of his father, made him familiar with martial arts from an early age, and when he grew up, he practiced martial arts with his father, and at the age of 13, he had already obtained the "Tang Tetsudo" black belt dan position, and was also deeply accomplished in karate and Aikido.
Net map Tang Hand Road
The so-called "Tang Hand Dao", it is a martial art originated from the Northern Song Dynasty, mainly based on White Crane Fist, supplemented by Shape Meaning, Bagua, Tai Chi, Shaolin Fist, combining internal and external skills. The biggest feature of this martial art is that it is fierce and fierce, and is often used in actual combat.
According to legend, when the patriotic general Yue Fei learned this skill, he taught it to the Yue family army and was invincible.
In the 1960s, after the war subsided for many years and the society tended to stabilize, people began to pursue higher spiritual enjoyment, and movies became an indispensable spiritual food in everyone's daily life.
Poster of the Japanese movie "Wind Forest Volcano"
As an adult, Kurata Yasuaki, who devoted himself to kung fu, began to devote himself to the Japanese film industry, starring in several Japanese action films. Among them are "Continuing Organizational Violence", "Wind Forest Volcano", "Humpback City and the Stick of Heart", etc., in these few works, he has played supporting roles, sometimes even inconspicuous small roles.
Those who have seen Kurata's early works know that he looked very recognizable when he was young, and his square face showed the spirit of Kong Wu, and at the same time, there was no lack of handsomeness.
Since the 1970s, Hong Kong action movies have opened a golden age under the leadership of Bruce Lee, Wang Yu, Wang Yu, Chen Xing and other dangda stars, and in addition to Hong Kong, Taiwanese film and television have also developed relatively well.
Poster of "Little Boxer"
Seeing that the prospects for development in his country are relatively slim, coupled with his own proficiency in martial arts, Kurata Hosaki began to enter the Taiwanese showbiz circle, and his first film work was "Little Boxer" with the well-known director Gong Min. In this film, the starring role was Meng Fei, a popular young student in Taiwan at that time.
In this film, although Kurata Hoaki is not the absolute protagonist, he is treated like a dragon set in Japan, but he is not known how many times superior. With superb martial arts, overnight, everyone began to pay attention to this martial arts artist.
Movie posters
Following "Little Boxer", Kurata Yasuaki and Meng Fei co-starred in the 1972 action movie "Whirlwind Fang Shiyu", which also achieved good results.
Mention Meng Fei, perhaps today's children are not familiar with it, but when it comes to the "Hu Yi Dao" in the most classic martial arts drama "Snow Mountain Flying Fox", it is played by him, which is a precious memory of the 70s and 80s. According to Meng Fei's later recollection, Kurata was not very good at riding horses when filming this film, so much so that he made a lot of jokes.
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In the early 1970s, Shaw's kung fu films still accounted for most of the film market, and due to the serious shortage of film production capacity, they began to open art schools to recruit artists to supplement the follow-up strength. After coming to Hong Kong to develop, Kurata Hosaki easily passed the interview with excellent kung fu and acting skills, and has since become a Shaw actor.
Poster of "The Evil Guest"
The first answer sheet handed over to Shaw was the action movie "Evil Guest" with Shaw's director Zhang Che, which included David And Dillon, the head of the family, and so on. In the film, Kurata Yasuaki plays the villain male number one "Katsuyo".
Among the many directors, the most concerned about Kurada Hoaki is actually Wu Siyuan, who is also a legend in the film industry and has won many stars. At that time, he was preparing to shoot an action movie called "Hungry Tiger And Wild Dragon", the protagonists had been set as martial arts superstars Chen Xing and Huang Yuanshen, but they could not find a suitable villain, so Kurata Yasuaki received an olive branch from Wu Siyuan.
Hungry Tiger And Dragon poster
The story of "Hungry Tiger and Wild Dragon" is set in Shanghai in the 1920s, when the Japanese are gradually carrying out a conspiracy to encroach on China and send a master known as "Mount Fuji Hungry Tiger" (Hoshiaki Kurata) to Shanghai, China to carry out sabotage activities, and kung fu superstar Chen Xing plays a detective captain nicknamed "North China Wild Dragon", leading his right-hand man (Huang Yuanshen) to fight with Japanese spies in the film...
I have to say that the reason why Wu Siyuan asked Kurata Baozhao to play the main villain in the film is two main purposes: one is that Kurata Baozhao has a deep kung fu, and the other is to see his superb acting skills.
When he received the script, Kurata Yasuaki was somewhat rejected in his heart. I am a Japanese person myself, and it is really embarrassing to play a Japanese villain as a Japanese. After some painstaking thinking, he also slowly figured out: art has no borders, not to mention that it is already living in peacetime, there is no need to worry bitterly.
Net diagram
It is precisely because of the abandonment of the "view of the portal", Kurata Yasuaki played the villain in the movie to life, and when he was beaten by the protagonist on the screen, he was immediately greeted with a burst of warm applause...
In 1972 alone, Kurata Yasuaki's "Evil Guest", "Four Horsemen", "Hungry Tiger Wild Dragon" and many other martial arts films, it is no exaggeration to say that this is the key year for him to "fight" fame in Hong Kong. This year, the Japanese boy was only 26 years old, and his career was in full swing.
Under the recommendation of Wu Siyuan, Kurata Hosaki met the kung fu superstar Liang Xiaolong, and the two have not only become the best partners, but also become good friends who feel sorry for each other, and at the same time, the relationship with Bruce Lee is also very good.
Liang Xiaolong and Kurata Hosaki
In 1973, Kurata Yasuaki took advantage of the popularity to appear in exaggerated works to reach as many as 15 films, although he was exhausted, but he also made him famous in the international film world since then, especially in Southeast Asia, and his influence is huge.
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When it comes to the development of Japanese actors in China, Koji Yano was unsurprisingly elected by netizens as the "most popular Japanese artist", and now he is a Chinese son-in-law, and his heart has remained in the beautiful and rich China; and the well-known Shinichi Chiba, who is well known to everyone for starring in the role of "Xiongba" in the "Wind and Cloud" series, is also deeply loved by domestic fans; and Oshima Yugari, who used to form a "golden partner" with Li Saifeng, staged many action films, and also attracted much attention.
Kurata Hoaki and his old friends
As a fan of the film, I have to admit that these Japanese artists have contributed a lot of good works to Chinese film and television, and their contribution is indispensable.
Speaking of the japanese artists who have contributed the most to kung fu films, I think that Kurata Yasuaki bears the brunt of it, because he is a martial artist who integrates "the heads of all families", and he is naturally handy and at ease in acting in action movies; in addition, he has been in China for the longest time and has formed a deep friendship with Chinese film fans.
Mention kurata's masterpiece is "Jingwu Hero" co-starring him and The Kung Fu Emperor Jet Li. In this film, he plays "Funakoshi Fumio" and Jet Li plays "Chen Zhen", and the two stage a textbook-style wonderful fight, Jet Li with his flexible and rapid martial arts, against Kurata Yasuaki's karate techniques and judo, is still one of the most repeated classic action movies.
Photo of "Jingwu Hero"
In this work that can be called the feast of action movies, the dialogue between Fumio Funakoshi and Chen Zhen fully embodies the true meaning of martial arts.
Fumio Funakoshi: "Fighting is the most fearful and impetuous, you must be calm and relaxed!" ”
Chen Zhen: "The strongest defense is offense, instead of defending as hard as you can, it is better to attack with all your might and knock down the enemy in the shortest time!" ”
In just a few words, the important philosophy of martial arts was revealed.
Poster of "Flying Flowers Month by Month"
In terms of martial arts dramas, "Flying Flowers Month by Month" co-starring Kurata Hoaki and Huang Yuanshen is also a classic. In the play, he plays "Runaway Prince", Huang Yuanshen plays "Xiao Hanyue", and there is also "Zhao Youlan" played by Miao Kexiu, a superstar gathering, which is a rare martial arts drama in the 80s.
Stills from "Flying Flowers Month by Month"
In addition to the above works, Kurata Yasuaki also co-starred with Liu Jiahui in the action film "Chinese Husband", in which he played a Japanese samurai.
In 1982, he co-starred with Liang Jiaren in "Huo Yuanjia", also playing a Japanese warrior, and finally fighting with Huo Yuanjia, which is still a brilliant work to this day.
Another example is "Summer Lucky Star" co-starring with Jackie Chan, Hong Jinbao and others, which is also wonderful and infinite...
Since then, in "Chinese Gambler", "Sunset Angel", "Anna and Wulin", "The World's First", "Jingwu Fengyun Chen Zhen", "Great Shanghai", "Tooth Wolf Shines on the Dark Man", "God of War Qi Jiguang", "Peerless Master" and other films, Kurata Hosaki almost all appeared as supporting roles or cameos, and a generation of stars was quite old.
Today, Kurata's elders have focused their work on teaching karate, and there are many disciples. For film and television, it is only occasionally addicted to drama.
So far, Kurata's predecessors have participated in more than 100 film and television dramas, contributing most of their lives to the development of the Chinese film industry. Now that he is in his prime, the year of the fight is over. As a movie fan, Haruka wishes him good health and happiness in his old age.
epilogue:
Hong Kong is known as the "Hollywood of the East", whether in the world or in the Chinese film industry, play a vital role, and influence can not be expressed in three words.
Today, although action movies are no longer popular, the glory left behind will forever go down in history. Behind the brilliance of action movies, it is inseparable from the hard work of a number of martial arts instructors and stars.
A Japanese artist, who traveled across the ocean to develop his acting career in a foreign country, with his own efforts to "fight" a piece of the world, such a fighting spirit is very admirable. What is even more valuable is that he has noble professional ethics and martial arts cultivation, is a Japanese martial arts industry and even a world-class master, and the younger generations in the circle should follow suit and strive to reproduce the colorful action movies of the past.
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