- "You insult my honor again... and I kill you."
- ―Chozen Toguchi to Daniel LaRusso[src]
Chozen Toguchi is the main antagonist of The Karate Kid Part II. He is the sensei of Sato's Dojo.
He is portrayed by Yuji Okumoto.
Fictional Character Biography
The Karate Kid Part II
Chozen is the nephew of Sato Toguchi, whose disdain for Mr. Miyagi is inherited from his uncle and is evident almost immediately, referring to him as a "coward" throughout the film. Chozen also shows immediate disdain to Daniel LaRusso both due to being a foreigner and a student of Miyagi's. Like Johnny Lawrence from the first film, he is portrayed as a bully and rival to Daniel, constanty tormenting and attacking him. Unlike Johnny, however, Chozen is far more adept at hand-to-hand combat and is referred to several times in the film as Sato's star pupil. Also, unlike Johnny (who stops tormenting Daniel at the end of the first movie), Chozen remains evil towards Daniel [and his allies]. In a rough bar adjacent to Sato's dojo where men break slabs of ice for amusement, Chozen goads Daniel into breaking all six slabs under the taunt "Broken ice, or a broken neck!" Mr. Miyagi bets a large amount of money that Daniel can do (arguably to get Chozen to back off), causing Chozen to protest he cannot afford that expensive bet. The bet is covered by Sato, who just entered the bar. After Daniel wins, Chozen whines that cowards do not deserve to win, but Sato pays up, snarling at Chozen to never engage in actions that would dishonor their family again. Chozen also is a grocery store middleman, where the dirt farmers of Tomi Village bring their crops to him and he purchases them. Daniel reveals that Chozen has been using rigged weights, causing the farmers to become outraged and demand honest scales. This incident turns to extreme hatred as Chozen feels Daniel dishonored him, despite Chozen himself engaging in the dishonorable activity of cheating suppliers. The full extent of Chozen's hatred for Daniel is not revealed until the latter portion of the film where, despite Sato's insistence, a fearful Chozen outright refuses to help Daniel rescue a child from a typhoon. This deliberate act of defiance prompts an angry Sato to disown him, causing Chozen to run off into the storm humiliated.
In a misguided attempt to regain his honor, a deranged Chozen invades the O-bon festival, holds Kumiko hostage at knifepoint (despite Miyagi and Sato's protests) and forces Daniel into a fight to the death. Chozen proves to be a formidable foe, even countering Daniel's crane kick, and manages to gain the upper hand as the fight progresses. In the end, however, he is defeated by Daniel, who uses his "drum technique" to block Chozen's attacks and follow up with a series of counter-attacks. When given the chance to live or die, Chozen chooses to die, but Daniel, in a similar fashion of what Miyagi did to Kreese at the beginning of the film, honks his nose instead of delivering the fatal blow, sparing Chozen's life.
Fate
Chozen's fate is unclear after the events of The Karate Kid Part II, though it is possible that he reformed after losing to Daniel. It is also possible that he was imprisoned as a result of his actions towards Daniel and Kumiko. Since it has been confirmed that Daniel will be revisiting Okinawa in Season 3, It's possible that Chozen may make an appearance.
Cobra Kai
Season 2
When the flashback of Daniel breaking the ice in Karate Kid Part II is shown, Chozen is seen watching Daniel breaking the ice much to his shock and dismay.
Season 3
In the first season 3 teaser an unknown Asian fighter in a black gi is shown performing a takedown on Daniel and sticking a sai into the ground next to his head. In the voiceover this character is heard saying, "You sure about that?" to Daniel, in a voice that sounds very much like Chozen's. As of this writing the identity of this character is not confirmed.
Fighting Style
- "He's not bad."
"He's Sato's number-one student."
"I can see why." - ―Daniel LaRusso and Kumiko[src]
A Miyagi-do stylist, Chozen is primarily a counter fighter. He tends to block incoming attacks, catching the limb if he can, after which he follows up with vicious combos. He is able to easily block and counter most of Daniel's techniques, including the crane kick. Daniel is only able to defeat Chozen by waiting for him to initiate an attack, which he intercepts with the Miyagi drum technique.
Personality
- "He has no idea what honor is."
- ―Kumiko to Daniel LaRusso[src]
Chozen presents himself as a cruel, disrespectful, remorseless, and disgraceful fighter. While he seems to boast about it throughout the film, Chozen seems to have a twisted and misguided definition of honor. While he shows respect for his superiors such as his uncle, he is heartless and disrespectful against everyone else around him. By cheating the villagers of their money with rigged weights, mugging Daniel of the money he won against him in a bet Daniel won fairly, initially refusing to honor the bet he made when, he showed that he is a sore loser. He also demands for respect despite not earning it. This "Honor" is in fact his pride, ego, and narcasistic belief that he is a superior man, as he holds himself in very high regard despite his despicable actions, simply because he is a master of martial arts and wealthy powerful family he comes from. It is possible he only is honorable and respectful to people he deems worthy. The only instance of him being supposedly honorable is him allowing Daniel to attack him with his spear despite Chozen himself being unarmed, though Chozen likely did this because he knew Daniel wouldn't beat him. When Daniel attacked him with the spear, Chozen kicked it and then attacked him with the spear. Because of how he sees himself and his definition of honor, Chozen thinks he is a man above morals, and does not see the error of his ways. Possibly due to his upbringing by his uncle, Chozen believes that anyone who is not willing to fight regardless of the situation, whether it calls for conflict or not, is a coward and deserves death.
Chozen appears to suffer from Borderline Personality Disorder, a serious mental illness that causes emotional instability and drastic measures to avoid perceived abandonment by others. This is evidenced by his severe emotional mood swings and the fact that Chozen flew into a rage after he was "dishonored" by Daniel and deemed the only way to make it right was by killing Daniel. Chozen very likely has this disorder, as his behavior, self-image and relationships with others are hampered as a result of him also suffering from an Impulse Control Disorder. When he is "rejected" by people he deems important in his life, Chozen takes even more drastic measures to ensure he is "respected". This likely means that Chozen's twisted definition of honor has less to do with a strange and unusual moral code and more to do with an extremely unstable brain chemistry that twists the definition to whatever suits him best.
When Chozen loses a fight, he wants to be killed by his opponent as he feels there is no honor in him living if he loses. Some examples include him being angry at Miyagi when the latter refuses to kill him after defeating him and asking Daniel to kill him after the latter defeats him.
Trivia
- His name is presumably a pun on the word "chosen", but also the Japanese word "Zen", which means meditation, enlightenment and intuition.
- Chozen is the only main antagonist to challenge Daniel LaRusso to a death match, which would make him the only Karate Kid villain to be willing to flat-out kill someone in a fight.
- Chozen is also the only main antagonist who was offered repeated chances at changing his ways (like his uncle) yet he refused belligerently and dishonorably.
- Chozen is the only character to successfully land a strike on Miyagi, although he actually wanted to hit Daniel and Miyagi was hit unintentionally. Miyagi also had his back turned and was busy attending to Daniel while Chozen struck him.
- Chozen is the final boss in The Karate Kid video game for the Famicom or Nintendo Entertainment System, which was produced by LJN and subcontracted to Atlus Games. It is also possible to play as Chozen in the 2-player mode of the game, where it is a "deathmatch mode" in a dojo. If the first player wins, a screen will be shown saying "Daniel-San wins!", whereas if the second player wins, a screen will be shown saying "Chozen wins!"