The 20th Century Samurai
The 20th Century Samurai
"Richard Biggie Kim"
Born in 1917 passed away in 2001, Richard Kim is without a doubt one of America’s first generation true karate masters.
He was born in Hawaii 1917 and began his training in Judo
at the young age of six and then in 1927 he seen a demonstration of karate by
the legendary Yabu Kentsu and he was hooked. He began the next day on a path
that would last for 75 years.
But he was more then just a karate master, he was a spy for the Japanese during WWII, he was the inheritor of the Daito Ryu Aiki Jitsu style from the legendary Yoshida Kotaro, not to mention he was a double for one of the most notorious war criminals that Japanese had, Kinji Doihara. (Doihara was hung December 28th 1948 for his crimes in WWII).
Richard Kim was also a philosopher and practical hands psychologist which he learnt from his years of training in old, old school martial arts in Japan. He was a best friend with two of Japan’s biggest names in the 20th Century martial arts, Gogen Yamaguichi from whom he received a shodan from in 1950 and was benefactors with Mas Oyama, Kyokushinkai fame.
Now a book has been written with all the good the bad and
the ugly of this master who was promoted to 10th dan by Hidetaka
Nishiyama of JKA fame and arguably one of the most knowledgeable karate-ka
alive today, himself a student of Gichin Funakoshi founder of Japanese
Karate. The book is 440 pages in length
and deals with the complete bio of Richard Kim including his war years in
Shanghai as a POW, his early days in Karate in his native Hawaii, plus there is
also the most comprehensive history of the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai ever written.
For those who do not know what or who the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai is, let me put it this way anyone who was in Japanese martial arts prior to WWII was a member of the DNBK as it boasted over 2 million members at one time. They were also blamed as being apart of the reason WWII was started by some of its right wing radicals who were all part of the DNBK. The DNBK along with other organizations were shut down by General Douglas Mac Arthur who was the head of the allied occupation forces of Japan. Kim was a member of the DNBK during WWII and part of its reformation after the war. He was involved with Ohno Kumao the main mover and shaker of the reformation as he received his 8th and 9th dan’s from him.
The Black Dragon Society was another part of the dark side of Richard Kim. Although it cannot be proven that he or anyone else was a member of this sinister secret ultra right wing group loyal only to the Emperor of Japan, we must use one his Kim’s famous one liners he became known for “birds of a feather flock together”. Kim lived with Yoshida Kotaro in the early 1950’s and he was a self-proclaimed member of the group. He first met Yoshida Kotaro in 1939 in Japan and then again in Shanghai during the war Kim studied at the Tung Wen Spy School in Shanghai during WWII plus he was hooked up with many other questionable personalities. Others who were thought to be apart of the Black Dragon Society were names like Doshin So founder of Shorinji Kenpo, Gogen Yamaguichi another spy for Japan. In fact when Richard Kim applied for immigrant status in post WWII Japan he was denied because of his dubious background.
The book also has excerpts from the hundreds of magazine
articles written about him since his repatriation to the USA in 1957. Plus many
of you may remember him from his column published for years in Karate
Illustrated under the title of Classical Man. Well he had over 45 more articles
written for this column, which dealt with philosophy and psychology of the
arts, and these are now published for the first time in this text.
A special collector’s edition published by Rising Sun Productions this hard cover book is printed on high gloss top quality paper with gold gilded edges, then wrapped in a laminated dust jacket and is then placed inside a special box with a certificate of authenticity as there are only 1000 being printed in this special format.
Richard Kim was dubbed the 20th Century Samurai because of his strict adherence to old school Japanese tradition and training which he often referred to as Samurai training. This involved everything from grueling workouts at 5:00 a.m. to public embarrassment and chastising of students. Many quit because of this and not understanding the ways of training.
He never asked a student to do anything he had never done or gone thru as it was usually he at the front of the class doing the last of the 150 straight sit ups or he teaching and demonstrating how to effectively throw a right left combination that would knock out any who wanted to see how fast it really was.
He went thru this training with Yoshida Kotaro who he called in the same breath one of the hardest people to be around and yet the best martial artist Japan has developed in the last 100 years.
A street fighter and enforcer or shall we say special
Yokohama agent for the Harry Lundberg and Sailor’s Union of The Pacific in the
late 1940 and early 1950’s Kim had his last street fight when he was in his
70’s with a gang of young thugs in Sacramento who decided that he was just
another old man they could push around in a shopping mall. They were sadly wrong.
The book took over one year of research and collection of old photos plus hundreds of emails and translations by scholars of Japanese martial arts and Japanese writings. Well worth the wait as the special collector’s edition comes with a CD PDF version of the book to read on computers and a DVD as well that has his life in photos including his days in Shanghai San Francisco and Hawaii.
While in Shanghai Richard Kim trained and went to school as that was all POW were allowed to do. He trained in the Internal Arts in China from 1941 to his escape back to the USA in 1945
Many of Kim’s senior students are listed in the book with their own bios names like Peter Urban, James Miyaji, Brian Ricci, Louis Jemison, Ken Shockey, Don Warrener and Robert Leong.
The book is full of facts and information about this one of the greatest martial artists of the 20th Century and someone who commanded the respect of all when he entered a room as he was the 20th Century Samurai.
Presently, Warrener Entertainment is currently working on releasing a new book called, ' Beyond the Physical' by Professor Richard Kim. This book outlines valuable information that Sensei Kim taught during his various seminars. Lessons on life, psychology, philosophy and so much more! It is the book that will take you beyond the physical side of your training and will help you to be a better martial artist of life.
