| “ | You insult my honor again, I’ll kill you. | „ |
| ~ Chozen threatening Daniel. |
Chozen Toguchi is the main antagonist of The Karate Kid Part II.
He was portrayed by Yuji Okumoto.
Biography
He is Sato Toguchi's nephew and best student. Like Johnny Lawrence, he is a bully and second enemy to Daniel LaRusso. Unlike Johnny, however, Chozen seems to have a sense of honor for the art of karate and is more highly skilled, though far more cruel and ruthless.
His sense of honor does not extend to the natives of Tomi Village, however, as he cheats farmers by using rigged weights, which Daniel later accidentally exposes, causing the villagers to gain respect for Daniel and more disgust for Chozen's dishonesty. This causes Chozen to develop very strong grudge against Daniel.
Chozen also goes so far that he will even be willing to kill his opponent for honor. He even forces Daniel to face him in a death match while holding Kumiko hostage at the end of the film. He was just like his Uncle Sato, but twice as bad.
When his Uncle showed remorse and saw how bad he became, he decided to end his feud with Miyagi and when he saw Chozen not to help Daniel out, he disowned him in anger.
Later Chozen appears at the festival and takes Kumiko hostage. Then he demands Daniel to fight him alone. Chozen proves to be quite difficult opponent, but in the end, he is defeated by Daniel who spares his life. After that his later fate is unknown. He gave up his quest to take down Daniel and left in exile.
Personality
Chozen presents himself as a cruel, disrespectful, ruthless, remorseless, and disgraceful fighter. Chozen seems to fit the psychiatric profile of a psychopath, a narcissist, a Borderline personality, or all three. 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. Cheating the villagers of their money with ridged weights and mugging Daniel of the money he won against him in a bet Daniel won fairly, initially refusing to honor the bet he made when, showing that he is a soar loser. Demanding respect despite not earning it. His sense of honor may be mistaken for pride as he holds himself in very high regard despite his despicable actions. Simply because he is a master of martial arts, and because of how he sees himself and his definition of honor, Chozen thinks that he is a man above morals, and does not see the errors 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.
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 presumably the most evil character in original Karate Kid series.
