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Sonny Chiba
千葉 真一
Chiba in 2007
Born	Sadaho Maeda (1939-01-23)23 January 1939 Fukuoka, Fukuoka, Japan
Died	19 August 2021(2021-08-19) (aged 82) Kisarazu, Chiba, Japan
Other names	Shinichi Chiba JJ Sonny Chiba Rindō Wachinaga
Alma mater	Nippon Sport Science University
Occupation(s)	Actor, martial artist
Years active	1960–2021
Spouses	Yōko Nogiwa ​ ​(m. 1972; div. 1994)​ Tamami Chiba ​ ​(m. 1996; div. 2015)​
Children	Juri Manase Mackenyu Gordon Maeda
Relatives	Jirō Yabuki (brother)
Website	chibashinichi.com
Signature

Shinichi Chiba (Japanese: 千葉 真一, Hepburn: Chiba Shin'ichi, born Sadaho Maeda; 23 January 1939 – 19 August 2021), 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 (Nana-iro Kamen) 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 (2003) and Fast & Furious 3: Tokyo Drift (2006).

Chiba died of COVID-19 complications at the hospital in Tokyo on 19 August 2021, at the age of 82.

Names

Born Sadaho Maeda (前田 禎穂, Maeda Sadaho), he used the stage name "Chiba Shinichi" throughout his professional career. When New Line Cinema released the film Gekitotsu! Satsujin ken (激突! 殺人拳) 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 (和千永 倫道, Wachinaga Rindō) 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 (whom he later portrayed in a trilogy of films), 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 (called "New Face") 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 (Nana-iro kamen) in the second half of the series and then starring as Gorō Narumi/Messenger of Allah in Messenger of Allah (Allah no Shisha). 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 JAC (Japan Action Club) [ja], 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 (JAE). He starred in Karate Kiba (Bodyguard Kiba) in 1973, which was his first martial arts movie. Chiba's breakthrough international hit was The Street Fighter (1974) which was brought to Western audiences (dubbed in English) 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 (mostly for non-Japanese projects) from that point on.

Chiba's subsequent projects included such pictures as The Bullet Train (1975), Karate Warriors (1976), Doberman Cop (1977), Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon (1977), and The Assassin (1977). He also occasionally returned to the science fiction genre, in movies such as Message from Space (1978). He also began to star on some jidaigeki such as Shogun's Samurai (1978), The Fall of Ako Castle (1978), G.I. Samurai (1979), Shadow Warriors (1980), and Samurai Reincarnation (1981). He was not only actor in but also stunt coordinator for G.I. Samurai, Burning Brave (1981), and Shogun's Shadow (1989). He was executive producer and director for Yellow Fangs (1990) and also directed and starred in Oyaji (2007).

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 (Makai Tensho) 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 (New Shadow Warriors).

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 (1998), 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 (新田真剣佑, Arata Makken'yū) and Gordon Maeda (郷敦), 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 (also known as Jiro Chiba), was also an actor.

Death

In early August 2021, Chiba contracted COVID-19 (due to the highly contagious Delta variant). 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 the private funeral.

In Western popular culture

Christian Slater's character Clarence Worley in True Romance is a fan of Chiba. In a pivotal early scene, he watches a Sonny Chiba triple feature.

The writer of True Romance, Quentin Tarantino, worked with Chiba ten years later in Kill Bill: Volume I, in which Chiba portrayed Katana master maker Hattori Hanzō in a vignette that combined comical interaction with his assistant, played by Kenji Ohba, with sombre references to traditional, Japanese sword making.

A modified version of the opening scroll to the English-language version of 1973 movie Karate Kiba (English title: The Bodyguard) was used in the script of Quentin Tarantino's 1994 movie Pulp Fiction. Tarantino's script changed the Ezekiel 25:17 speech, swapping out "I am Chiba the Bodyguard" for "my name is the Lord".

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

Films

Television

Shorts

Theater

References

1. ^ Moreau, Jordan (19 August 2021). "Sonny Chiba, Martial Arts Legend and 'Kill Bill' Actor, Dies at 82 of COVID Complications". Variety. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
2. ^ "SPORTS CITY". Kamakura Shobo. Vol. 1, no. 2. 1981. p. 32.
3. ^ "Honke Bruce Lee wo shinogu Chiba Shinichi" [Shinichi Chiba surpasses Bruce Lee as the movie star of martial arts]. Sports Hochi (in Japanese). Tokyo. 27 December 1974.
4. Chiba 2010, p. 51.
5. "千葉真一がアクション俳優からの引退を表明、今後は別名で活動も。". narinari. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
6. "『千葉真一 改め 和千永倫道』". yamakei. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
7. "千葉真一「JJサニー」に改名！映画監督としては「和千永倫道」 Archived 23 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine." Sankei Shimbun.
8. Chiba 2010, pp. 81–82.
9. Chiba Shin'ichi aratame Wachinaga Rindō, pp.38 – 39.
10. ^ Chibaryū samurai eno michi, pp.89.
11. ^ Chibaryū samurai eno michi, pp.95 – 96.
12. ^ Chiba Shin'ichi aratame Wachinaga Rindō, pp.53.
13. ^ "International Karate Organization KYOKUSHINKAIKAN Domestic Black Belt List As of Oct.2000". Kyokushin Karate Sōkan: Shin Seishin Shugi Eno Sōseiki E. Aikēōshuppanjigyōkyoku: 62–64. 2001. ISBN 4-8164-1250-6.
14. The dates are uncertain, because it is possible that he had television appearances to his credit as early as 1959.
15. Liebenson, Donald (28 January 1996). "PRIVATE LIVES: HOME ENTERTAINMENT, FAMILY ACTIVITIES: VIDEO: 'The Street Fighter' Scratches a Niche: Japanese action star Sonny Chiba is coming to America, and he's bringing blood and gore with him". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
16. "千葉真一主演 「柳生あばれ旅」シリーズ一挙放送！". 時代劇専門チャンネル. Archived from the original on 18 January 2013. Retrieved 30 November 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
17. "ペリーのちょんまげ". 時代劇専門チャンネル. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
18. Sonny Chiba at IMDb
19. Ragone, August. "SHINICHI "SONNY" CHIBA: A Real Mean Bastard!". Henshin!Online. Archived from the original on 7 November 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
20. "女優 真瀬樹里さん 母・野際陽子との確執...30過ぎでついに爆発". 東京スクスク. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
21. ^ "眞栄田郷敦の母・千葉玉美の現在は？千葉真一の借金や離婚で波瀾万丈な人生". Sorte Plus (in Japanese). Retrieved 25 September 2023.
22. "千葉真一、芸能生活60周年！ 新田真剣佑&眞栄田郷敦&真瀬樹里に"格言"を授ける". eiga.com. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
23. "「"今日は泊まっていけ"と言われて...」 千葉真一54歳差の"最後の女性"が明かす「幻の結婚式」". Daily Shincho (in Japanese). Shinchosha. 22 August 2023. Retrieved 25 September 2023.
24. "スター千葉真一の弟はきこり?". tbs. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
25. "俳優の千葉真一さん死去 82歳 新型コロナ感染による肺炎". NHK (in Japanese). Retrieved 19 August 2021. マネジメント会社によりますと、千葉さんは今月に入って新型コロナウイルスの感染が確認され、自宅で療養し、その後、症状が悪化したため8日から入院して治療を受けていましたが、19日夕方、千葉県内の病院で肺炎のため亡くなりました。
26. "俳優の千葉真一さん死去、82歳 新型コロナで入院中". Asahi Shimbun (in Japanese). 19 August 2021. Archived from the original on 19 August 2021. Retrieved 19 August 2021. 所属事務所によると、新型コロナウイルスに感染して8日から入院しており、肺炎が悪化したという。
27. 千葉真一さん死去 82歳 新型コロナ感染し療養も肺炎悪化、8日入院も Archived 21 August 2021 at the Wayback Machine (in Japanese)
28. Andrew, Scottie (19 August 2021). "Sonny Chiba, martial arts star of 'Kill Bill,' dies of Covid-19 complications". CNN. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
29. "俳優の千葉真一さん死去、82歳 死因は新型コロナによる肺炎". Tokyo Shimbun. Tokyo Web. Retrieved 19 August 2021. 所属事務所によると千葉さんは8日から入院し、ワクチンは接種していなかったという。
30. "Action star Shinichi 'Sonny' Chiba dies at 82 from COVID-19 complications". The Japan Times. 19 August 2021. Archived from the original on 19 August 2021. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
31. "千葉真一さん"最期の瞬間"を友人が明かす 「親子揃って目を赤く腫らしていました」". デイリー新潮 (in Japanese). 2 September 2021. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
32. ^ Thomas, Brian. VideoHound's Dragon: Asian Action & Cult Flicks. Canton, Michigan: Visible Ink Press, 2003, pp. 61–62.
33. Gilbey, Ryan (24 August 2021). "Sonny Chiba obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
34. Haasbroek, Luc (16 June 2023). "10 Characters With The Most Creative and Descriptive Names, According to Reddit". The Collider. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
35. Sherlock, Ben (22 January 2020). "Pulp Fiction: 10 Best Movie References, Ranked". ScreenRant. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
36. "Chiba Takayuki"; commentary from Yabako Sandrovich. End of Chapter 102.
37. "Photo of Shinichi Chiba receiving his 4th Dan Togakure-ryū Ninpō Taijutsu certificate from Masaaki Hatsumi". 戸隠流忍法-台湾武神館 Facebook. Archived from the original on 26 February 2022. Retrieved 15 September 2021.
38. "激殺!邪道拳: 作品情報".

Bibliography

• Chiba Shin'ichi aratame Wachinaga Rindō (in Japanese). Yama to Keikokush. 2008. ISBN 978-4-635-34022-9.
• Chiba, Sonny (September 2010). The Road to Chiba Style Samurai (in Japanese). Bunkasha. ISBN 978-4-8211-4269-9.

External links

• Official website
• Sonny Chiba official blog
• Sonny Chiba at IMDb 
• Henshin Online: Sonny Chiba
• Sonny Chiba on 10kbullets.com Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
• Sonny Chiba on GooHead Archived 16 June 2021 at the Wayback Machine
• Five Things You Didn't Know About Sonny Chiba

• 1939 births
• 2021 deaths
• 20th-century Japanese male actors
• 21st-century Japanese male actors
• Japanese male judoka
• Japanese male karateka
• Japanese kendoka
• Japanese ninjutsu practitioners
• People from Fukuoka
• People from Kimitsu
• Kyokushin kaikan practitioners
• Gōjū-ryū practitioners
• Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan
• 20th-century Japanese sportsmen