Sonny Chiba

Shinichi Chiba, known internationally as Sonny Chiba, was a Japanese actor and martial artist. Chiba was one of the first actors to achieve stardom through his skills in martial arts, initially in Japan and later to an international audience.
Born in Fukuoka, Chiba played a variety of sports in high school, including baseball and volleyball. He also practiced gymnastics and participated at the National Sports Festival of Japan in his third year. When he was a university student, he learned martial arts, earning a black belt in Kyokushin Karate in 1965 and later receiving a fourth degree in 1984.
Chiba's career began in the 1960s, when he starred in two tokusatsu superhero shows. In his first role, he replaced Susumu Wajima as the main character Kōtarō Ran/Seven Color Mask in Seven Color Mask in the second half of the series. However, his breakthrough role was in the 1974 film The Street Fighter. Before retiring, Chiba had also appeared in a number of English language American films, including Kill Bill: Volume 1 and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.
Chiba died of COVID-19 complications at the hospital in Tokyo on 19 August 2021, at the age of 82.

Names

Born Sadaho Maeda, he used the stage name "Chiba Shinichi" throughout his professional career. When New Line Cinema released the film Gekitotsu! Satsujin ken in the United States in 1974, they retitled it The Street Fighter and billed its star as Sonny Chiba. Later, Chiba modified the name to "JJ Sonny Chiba", wherein the initials stood for "Justice Japan". After appearing in the taiga drama Fūrin Kazan in November 2007, he announced the retirement of the stage name "Shinichi Chiba"; henceforth he was billed "JJ Sonny Chiba" as an actor and Rindō Wachinaga as a film director.

Early life

Chiba was born in Fukuoka, the third of five children. His father was a pilot for the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service; his mother, originally from Kumamoto Prefecture, had competed in track and field in her youth. When he was four years old, his father was transferred to Kisarazu, Chiba, and the family moved to Kimitsu, Chiba Prefecture.
After Chiba went to junior high school in Kimitsu, the physical education teacher advised him to do artistic gymnastics. He also was passionate about track and field sports, baseball, and volleyball. He participated in those four sports championships of Chiba Prefecture. In high school, Chiba dedicated himself to artistic gymnastics and won the National Sports Festival of Japan while in his third year. He enjoyed watching movies, including Western movies such as Shane and High Noon.
Chiba went to the Nippon Sport Science University in 1957. He was a serious candidate for a place in the Japanese Olympic team in his late teens until he was sidelined by a back injury. While he was a university student, he began studying martial arts with the renowned Kyokushin Karate master Masutatsu "Mas" Oyama, which led to a first-degree black belt on 15 October 1965, later receiving a fourth-degree on 20 January 1984.

Career

Sometime around 1960, he was discovered in a talent search by the Toei film studio, and he began his screen career soon after. The CEO of Toei at the time gave him the stage name "Shinichi Chiba".
His acting career began on television, starring in two tokusatsu superhero shows, first replacing Susumu Wajima as the main character Kōtarō Ran/ Seven Color Mask in Seven Color Mask in the second half of the series and then starring as Gorō Narumi/Messenger of Allah in Messenger of Allah. He starred in the 1961 science fiction movie Invasion of the Neptune Men and the first Kinji Fukasaku film, Drifting Detective: Tragedy in the Red Valley, which marked the beginning of a long series of collaborations for the two. Over the next decade, he was cast primarily in crime thrillers. By 1970, Chiba had started his own training school for aspiring martial arts film actors and stunt performers known as, in order to develop the level of martial arts techniques and sequences used in Japanese film and television. Today the organization is known as Japan Action Enterprise. He starred in Karate Kiba in 1973, which was his first martial arts movie. Chiba's breakthrough international hit was The Street Fighter which was brought to Western audiences by New Line Cinema. The film and its sequels established him as the reigning Japanese martial arts actor in international cinema for the next two decades. It was New Line Cinema founder Robert Shaye who gave Chiba the English name "Sonny", which Chiba would adopt as his own from that point on.
Chiba's subsequent projects included such pictures as The Bullet Train, Karate Warriors, Doberman Cop, Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon, and The Assassin. He also occasionally returned to the science fiction genre, in movies such as Message from Space. He also began to star on some jidaigeki such as Shogun's Samurai, The Fall of Ako Castle, G.I. Samurai, Shadow Warriors, and Samurai Reincarnation. He was not only actor in but also stunt coordinator for G.I. Samurai, Burning Brave, and Shogun's Shadow. He was executive producer and director for Yellow Fangs and also directed and starred in Oyaji.
Chiba portrayed Yagyū Jūbei Mitsuyoshi multiple times, first in the 1978 film Shogun's Samurai and in its TV series remake The Yagyu Conspiracy, which aired from 1978 to 1979.
He then appeared as Jūbei in the TV series Yagyū Abaretabi, which aired from 1980 to 1981 and in the 1981 film Samurai Reincarnation and its theatrical musical version Yagyu Jubei Makai Tensho. He then reprised his role as Jūbei in the second season of Yagyū Abaretabi, this time entitled Yagyū Jūbei Abaretabi, which aired from 1982 to 1983. A few years later he returned to play Jūbei in Iemitsu, Hikoza, and Isshin Tasuke: A National Crisis, a TV movie that aired in 1989. His final appearance as Jūbei was in 2 direct-to-DVD films entitled Sarutobi Sasuke and the Army of Darkness 3: Wind Chapter and Sarutobi Sasuke and the Army of Darkness 4: Fire Chapter in 2005. Other notable Japanese television roles for Chiba were the ninja leaders Hattori Hanzō III, Tsuge Shinpachi, Tarao Hanzō, and Hattori Hanzō XV across multiple seasons of the Shadow Warriors TV series and Hattori Hanzō I in the 2003 direct-to-DVD series follow-up Shin Kage no Gundan.
Chiba was even busier in the 1980s, doing dozens of movies as well as making forays into television, and with roles in such high-profile adventures as the popular Hong Kong comic-based movie The Storm Riders, starring alongside Ekin Cheng and Aaron Kwok. His fame in Japan remained unabated into the 1990s.
In his fifties, the actor resumed working as a choreographer of martial arts sequences. At the dawn of the 21st century, Chiba was as busy as ever in feature films and also starring in his own series in Japan. Roles in Takashi Miike's Deadly Outlaw: Rekka and his work with directors Kenta and Kinji Fukasaku in Battle Royale II effectively bridged the gap between modern day and yesteryear cinematic cult legends. Chiba's enduring onscreen career received a tribute when he appeared in a key role as Hattori Hanzo, the owner of a sushi restaurant and retired samurai sword craftsman, in director Quentin Tarantino's bloody revenge epic Kill Bill: Volume I in 2003.
Chiba starred in more than 125 films for Toei Studios and has won numerous awards in Japan for his acting.

Personal life

In 1994 Chiba divorced his first wife, actress Yōko Nogiwa. Their daughter Juri Manase is also an actress.
He married Tamami Chiba in 1996, with whom he had a 28-year age difference.
They had two sons, Mackenyu Arata and Gordon Maeda, who are both actors. Chiba and Tamami Chiba divorced in 2015.
Also in 2015, Weekly Shincho reported that Chiba was romantically involved with a 22-year old female university student. At the time, his divorce with Tamami Chiba was in the process of being finalized.
His younger brother, Jirō Yabuki, was also an actor.

Death

In early August 2021, Chiba contracted COVID-19. Initially, he was treated at home, but was hospitalized a few days later on 8 August when he developed pneumonia. He died at the hospital in Kisarazu, Chiba, on 19 August 2021, at the age of 82. He had not received double or triple vaccination, according to his agency. His body was cremated on 20 August after a private funeral.

In Western popular culture

The protagonist, Clarence Worley, in the Quentin Tarantino-written True Romance is a fan of Chiba. In a pivotal early scene, he watches a Chiba triple feature. A modified version of the opening scroll to the English dub of Karate Kiba was used in the script of Tarantino's 1994 film Pulp Fiction. Tarantino's script changed the Ezekiel 25:17 speech, swapping out "I am Chiba the Bodyguard" for "my name is the Lord".
Tarantino worked with Chiba in 2003 with Kill Bill: Volume I, in which Chiba portrays Katana master maker Hattori Hanzō in a vignette that combines comical interaction with his assistant, with sombre references to traditional Japanese sword making.
The character Takayuki Chiba from the shōnen manga series Kengan Ashura is based on Chiba and Hiroyuki Sanada.

Martial arts ranks

Chiba held black belts in the following martial arts:

Kyokushin Karate: 4th Dan
Togakure-ryū Ninpō Taijutsu: 4th Dan
Goju-ryu karate: 2nd Dan
Shorinji Kempo: 2nd Dan
Judo: 2nd Dan
Kendo: 1st Dan
Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1961	Police Department Story: Alibi	Detective Nakagawa
1961	Police Department Story: The 15 Year Old Woman	Detective Nakagawa
1961	Drifting Detective: Tragedy in the Red Valley	Gorō Saionji
1961	Drifting Detective: Black Wind in the Harbor	Gorō Saionji
1961	Invasion of the Neptune Men	Shinichi Tachibana/Iron Sharp
1961	Hepcat in the Funky Hat	Ichirō Tenka
1961	Police Department Story: Twelve Detectives	Detective Nakagawa
1961	Hepcat in the Funky Hat: The 20,000,000 Yen Arm	Ichirō Tenka
1961	Shinto Boss Series: Employee Ishimatsu Is the Man	Nagashima
1962	The Kamikaze	Yūki
1962	Love School	Shinichi Kogure
1962	Escape: The 2/26 Incident	Private First Class Shinohara
1962	For Love, the Sun, and the Gang	Yamauchi
1962	Higher Than the Stars in the Sky	Yoshio Horimoto
1962	Tragedy of Twins	Masaki
1962	Four Sisters	Shinkichi Hayami
1962	Mid-August Commotion	Dr. Ōmori
1962	Gang vs. G-Men	Osamu Kaji
1962	The Gambler	Mōri
1962	The Terrifying Witch	Daisuke Shirono
1963	Twins Searching for Mother	Ume-san
1963	President Jiro and Employee Ishimatsu: Yasugi Bushi Road	Hiroshi Shiomi
1963	The Violent Underworld	Kazuo Ichinoki
1963	Special Tactical Police	Detective Naitō
1963	Twins in the Meadow	Kenichi Tomizawa
1963	Judo for Life	Shirō Hongō
1963	Special Tactical Police 2	Detective Naitō
1963	Lure of A Killer	Daisuke Jōno
1963	Gambler Tales of Hasshu: A Man's Pledge	Satarō
1963	The Chivalrous of Asakusa	Shinsuke Hayama
1963	The Navy	Takao Mutaguchi
1963	Song of the Yakuza	Shunji Nitta
1963	Gang Chusingura	Shichirō Yatō
1963	White Ball	Yōta Ogiwara
1963	Life of Blackmail	Gorō Ozawa
1964	Decree from Hell	Shinichi Ōmatsu
1964	Judo for Life: The Devil of Kodokan	Shirō Hongō
1964	Tokyo Untouchable: Prostitution Underground Organization	Yoshio Hamada
1964	Here Because of You	Makoto Yabuki
1964	Dragon and Tiger Generation	Shinichi Matsuhashi
1965	Singing to Those Clouds	Jun Tonomura
1965	That Cute Girl	Morimoto
1965	Hey, Clouds!	Saburō Tatsumi
1965	Tale of Japanese Burglars	Attorney Ōki
1965	The Fugitive	Saburō Tateishi
1965	Yakuza G-Men: Meiji Underworld	Tōru Shibayama
1965	A Villain's Code Of Honor	Sōichi Jinnai
1965	Abashiri Prison: Hokkai Territory	Hayama
1966	Bitches of the Night	Tatsuo Ōtsuki
1966	Kamikaze Man: Duel at Noon	Ken Mitarai
1966	Terror Beneath the Sea	Ken Abe
1966	Abashiri Prison: Duel in the South	Tanimura
1966	Dash to the Sun	Takashi Shindō
1966	Game of Chance	Bungo Endō
1966	Ōgon Bat	Dr. Yamatone
1967	Soshiki Bōryoku	Shinji Takasugi
1967	Game of Chance 2	Bungo Endō
1967	Diaries of the Kamikaze	Second Sub-lieutenant Hanzawa
1967	The North Sea Chivalry	Shūichi Aida
1967	King of Gangsters	Matsumoto
1967	Game of Chance 3	Bungo Endō
1967	Kawachi Chivalry	Komakichi Sugimoto
1968	Human Torpedoes: Kaiten Special Attack Force	Chief navigator Takiguchi
1968	Army Intelligence 33	Kazuo Yamamoto
1968	The Young Eagles of the Kamikaze	Second Sub-lieutenant Kodama
1969	Delinquent Boss: Ocho the She-Wolf	Mitsuo Fujiki
1969	Memoir of Japanese Assassinations	Tadashi Onuma
1970	Yakuza Deka	Shirō Hayata
1970	Yakuza Cop 2: Marijuana Trafficking Syndicate	Shirō Hayata
1970	The Last Suicide Squad	Captain Mishima
1971	Yakuza Cop 3: Poison Gas Affair	Shirō Hayata
1971	Yakuza Cop 4: No Epitaphs for Us	Shirō Hayata
1972	Yakuza Wolf: I Perform Murder	Gōsuke Himuro
1972	Vice G-Men	Yasuo Kikuchi
1972	Wandering Ginza Butterfly 2: She-Cat Gambler	Ryūji Azuma
1972	Yakuza Wolf 2: Extend My Condolences	Tōru Ibuki
1972	Vice G-Men 2: Terrifying Flesh Hell	Haruo Kikuchi
1973	Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima	Katsutoshi Ōtomo
1973	Bodyguard Kiba	Naoto Kiba
1973	Tokyo-Seoul-Bangkok Drug Triangle	Tatsuya Wada
1973	Bodyguard Kiba 2	Naoto Kiba
1974	The Street Fighter	Takuma Tsurugi
1974	Return of the Street Fighter	Takuma Tsurugi
1974	Military Spy School	Ichirō Kikuchi
1974	The Executioner	Ryūichi
1974	Sister Street Fighter	Seiichi Hibiki
1974	The Street Fighter's Last Revenge	Takuma Tsurugi
1974	The Executioner II: Karate Inferno	Ryūichi
1975	Killing Machine	Doshin So
1975	Young Nobility: Maki of the 13 Steps	Kenichi Hyūga
1975	Wolfguy: Enraged Lycanthrope	Akira Inugami
1975	The Bullet Train	Aoki
1975	Champion of Death	Masutatsu Ōyama
1975	Detonation: Violent Riders	Tsugami
1975	New Battles Without Honor and Humanity: The Boss's Head	Bartender	Uncredited
1975	The Defensive Power of Aikido	Shinbei Natori
1975	Karate Bearfighter	Masutatsu Ōyama
1976	Dragon Princess	Isshin Higaki
1976	Yokohama Underworld: Machine Gun Dragons	Keiichi Komatsu
1976	Karate Warriors	Shūhei Sakata
1976	The Rugby Star	Rikio Ōtate
1976	Jail Breakers	Wataru Kangi
1976	Okinawa Yakuza War	Seigō Kunigami
1977	Yakuza War: The Japanese Don	Tsuneyoshi Sakota
1977	Soul of Chiba	Mu Yun Tek	Planning
1977	Hokuriku Proxy War	Hachirō Kanai
1977	Karate for Life	Mas Oyama
1977	Gambler's Code of Japan	Katsuji Kogure
1977	Doberman Cop	Jōji Kanō
1977	Torakku Yarō	Jōji Niimura
1977	Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon	Golgo 13/Duke Tōgō
1977	Black Jack: The Visitor in the Eye	Drunk
1978	Shogun's Samurai	Yagyū Jūbei Mitsuyoshi
1978	Message from Space	Prince Hans
1978	Okinawa: The Ten Year War	Chōyū Inami
1978	The Fall of Ako Castle	Kazuemon Fuwa
1979	Dead Angle	Yōsuke Ōta
1979	Hunter in the Dark	Samon Shimoguni
1979	The Resurrection of the Golden Wolf	Mitsuhiko Sakurai
1979	The Bushido Blade	Prince Ido
1980	Virus	Dr. Yamauchi
1980	Shogun's Ninja	Shōgen Shiranui	Action director
1981	G.I. Samurai	Lt. Yoshiaki Iba	Action director
1981	Chanbara Graffiti		documentary
1981	Samurai Reincarnation	Yagyū Jūbei Mitsuyoshi
1981	Roaring Fire	Shunsuke Tachikawa	Action director
1981	The Kamikaze Adventurer	Daisuke Kamikaze
1981	The Blazing Valiant		Action Director
1982	Fall Guy	Himself
1982	Ninja Wars	Yagyū Munetoshi
1983	Kabamaru the Ninja	Saizō Igano	Planning
1983	Legend of the Eight Samurai	Dōsetsu Inuyama
1984	Kotaro to the Rescue	Moore County colonel	Planning
1985	The Last True Yakuza	Ryōzō Kanō
1986	Cabaret
1987	Sure Death 4: Revenge	Bunshichi Warabeya
1989	Tetsuro Tamba's Large Spiritual World
1989	Shogun's Shadow	Shōzaemon Iba	Action director
1989	Sensei	Makoto Ushiyama	Producer
1990	Yellow Fangs		Director Producer
1991	Gokudo Wars	Takatsugu Kasai
1992	Fighting Fist	Superintendent Yamada	Director
1992	Aces: Iron Eagle III	Colonel Sueo Horikoshi
1992	A Mine Field	Hiromichi Takagi	Original idea
1992	The Triple Cross	Shiba
1994	Immortal Combat	Jiro 'J.J.' Jintani
1995	Body Count	Makoto
1998	The Storm Riders	Lord Conqueror
2000	The Legend of the Flying Swordsman	'Dagger' Yuan-ba Li
2000	Born to Be King	Ichio Kusakari
2000	Chinchiromai	Takeshi Kuroda
2001	The Melancholy Hitman		Direct-to-video
2001	Akumyoh	Tōyōzō Kuroshima	Direct-to-video
2001	Koroshi no Gundan	Miyoshi	Direct-to-video
2001	Koroshi no Gundan 2	Miyoshi	Direct-to-video
2002	Akumyoh 2	Tōyōzō Kuroshima	Direct-to-video
2002	Deadly Outlaw: Rekka	Yasunori Hijikata
2002	Yakuza of Legend: Chapter of Raging Fire
2002	Don no Michi 6	Takagi	Direct-to-video
2003	Don no Michi 7	Takagi	Direct-to-video
2003	Don no Michi 8	Takagi	Direct-to-video
2003	New Shadow Warriors	Hattori Hanzō I	Planning
2003	Yakuza of Legend: Chapter of the Setting Sun		Direct-to-video
2003	New Shadow Warriors II	Hattori Hanzō I	Planning
2003	Don no Michi 9	Takagi	Direct-to-video
2003	Battle Royale II: Requiem	Makio Mimura
2003	True Kyūshū Yakuza 1	Isoji Ōga	Direct-to-video
2003	New Shadow Warriors III	Hattori Hanzō I	Executive producer
2003	Kill Bill: Volume 1	Hattori Hanzō	Kenjutsu Choreographer
2003	Namishō no Yamamoto-ja! Kenka Yakyū-hen		Direct-to-video
2004	New Shadow Warriors IV	Hattori Hanzō I	Executive producer
2004	Kill Bill: Volume 2	Hattori Hanzō
2004	Zenidō	Kōjirō Shinkai
2004	Zenidō 2	Kōjirō Shinkai
2004	Zenidō 3	Kōjirō Shinkai
2004	New Boss of Japan	Matsuo Takano	Direct-to-video
2004	New Boss of Japan 2	Matsuo Takano	Direct-to-video
2004	New Boss of Japan 3	Matsuo Takano	Direct-to-video
2004	Survive Style 5+	Kazama
2004	Zenidō 4	Kōjirō Shinkai	Direct-to-video
2004	Explosive City	Otosan
2004	Zenidō 5	Kōjirō Shinkai	Direct-to-video
2005	Zenidō 6	Kōjirō Shinkai
2005	New Shadow Warriors V	Hattori Hanzō I
2005	New Shadow Warriors VI	Hattori Hanzō I
2005	Sarutobi Sasuke and the Army of Darkness 3: Wind Chapter	Yagyū Jūbei Mitsuyoshi
2005	Sarutobi Sasuke and the Army of Darkness 4: Fire Chapter	Yagyū Jūbei Mitsuyoshi
2006	Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair	Hattori Hanzō
2006	The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift	Boss Kamata
2006	Master of Thunder	Genryū
2006	The Winds of God: Kamikaze	Nobutada Ōta
2006	True Kyūshū Yakuza 2	Isoji Ōga	Direct-to-video
2007	True Kyūshū Yakuza 3	Isoji Ōga	Direct-to-video
2007	Oyaji	Ryūmichi Numata	Director
2009	Sennen no Matsu		Direct-to-video
2009	Sennen no Matsu 2		Direct-to-video
2012	Shura no Hanamichi	Yoshio Sutama
2012	Shura no Hanamichi 2	Yoshio Sutama	Direct-to-video
2012	Gokudō no Monshō Part 18		Direct-to-video
2012	Sushi Girl	Sushi chef
2013	Nihon Tōitsu	Seizō Gonda
2013	Nihon Tōitsu 2	Seizō Gonda	Direct-to-video
2014	Shura no Denshō Araburu Kyō Inu	Shūhei Akiyama
2014	Kabukichō High School	Hakkaisan board chairman
2014	Kanto Gokudo Association Part 1		Direct-to-video
2015	Take a Chance	Miyamoto Musashi
2015	Kanto Gokudo Association Part 2		Direct-to-video
2015	April Fools	Bōryokudan leader
2015	So-On: The Five Oyaji
2017	Gokudō Tenka Fubu Part 1	Motonari Mōriya
2017	Teppen		Direct-to-video
2017	Gokudō Tenka Fubu Part 2	Motonari Mōriya
2017	Teppen 2		Direct-to-video
2017	Teppen 3		Direct-to-video
2017	Shashin Koshien Summer in 0.5 Seconds	Chair workshop craftsman
2017	Gokudō Tenka Fubu Part 4	Motonari Mōriya
2023	Bond of Justice: Kizuna	Jō	Posthumous release; Final film role