Yukio Kitano is the main antagonist of the 2010 Hong Kong biographical martial arts film The Legend Is Born: Ip Man. Apart from also telling the story of Ip Man, this film has no connection to the Ip Man film series starring Donnie Yen.
He is played by Kenya Sawada.
Biography[]
A long time ago, Yukio Kitano established the Japanese Chamber of Commerce in Foshan to control the commercial economy of Foshan and help the Japanese army invade.
He was also responsible for helping the Japanese Army smuggle young soldiers to Foshan in order to further invade Foshan Sergeant Tanaka Eiketsu was one of these young soldiers. After arriving at Foshan, he was adopted by the Ip family and grew up as Ip Tin-chi with his stepbrother Ip Man and their companion Lee Mei-wai.
In 1917, when the grown-up Ip Man went to study abroad in Hong Kong, Tin-chi and Lee became a couple and worked for Lee‘s father. At the same time, Kitano was trying to gain further trust from the Foshan merchants by providing donations to the Chin Woo Athletic Association.
In 1919, Kitano and his daughter Yumi visited the Chin Woo Athletic Association and tried to negotiate with Lee‘s father. After being rejected, Yumi and her men fought a battle with Tin-chi and lost. However, this was actually a plan between Tin-chi and Kitano, with Tin-chi gaining greater power by promoting his position in the Chin Woo Athletic Association.
At Tin-chi and Lee‘s wedding, Yumi hinted that Tin-chi had assassinated Lee’s father. Although the Ip Man realized that Tin-chi was the murderer, he was arrested by the police chief who colluded with Kitano. After Lee‘s father died, Tin-chi took his place as chairman of the Chin Woo Athletic Association. Following this, Kitano used Tin-chi‘s authority to donate to the Chin Woo Athletic Association and send people to join.
However, the plot was exposed after Lee accidentally discovered Yumi‘s letter to Tin-chi. Ip was also released from prison with the help of his fiancée, Cheung Wing-sing. When Tin-chi learned that both Lee and his predecessor Ng Chung-sok had discovered the plot, he tried to leave with Lee. But Kitano, Yumi, and their men stopped them. Lee was kidnapped by Kitano, and Tin-chi had to assassinate Ng.
Tin-chi and Yumi brought men to the dojo and tried to assassinate Ng. Ip returned to the dojo and fought them. Ip managed to kill Yumi, repel her men, and defeat Tin-chi. Tin-chi told Ip and Ng everything about his background and Lee‘s location before committing suicide.
Ip arrived at the dock and intercepted Kitano, who was trying to escape. Kitano temporarily blinded Ip with flour, then fought a battle with him. Despite this, Ip managed to deliver a fatal blow to Kitano, killing him and saving Lee. With Kitano‘s death, the Japanese Chamber of Commerce fell apart, the existence of the young soldier was also exposed, and the police chief may have been punished for colluding with Kitano.