Chozen Toguchi, after the premiere of Season 3, is one of the most powerful and popular characters
in the Karate Kid universe. Like Johnny, Chozen grew up after the events after Karate Kid Part II
and found his redemption with the help of his uncle Sato, and later on, Daniel LaRusso.
What you may not realize is that there are more layers underneath Chozen's character,
even though he's only been in one movie of the franchise and one full episode of Cobra Kai.
This is my opinion and theory of how Chozen redeemed himself,
his similarities to Sato and Miyagi, the symbolism of his character, and more.
Let's recap on what we know about Chozen so far, and how his redemption took place.
Chozen is the nephew of Sato Toguchi, Nariyoshi Miyagi's childhood friend and rival, and both
characters are introduced in the beginning of Karate Kid Part II. Sato still holds a grudge
for Miyagi for announcing his love for Yukie, the girl that was supposed to be wed to Sato. Because
of this grudge, Chozen also despises Miyagi, and in turn, Daniel, for being associated with
him. Between the time that Miyagi left Okinawa and the events of Karate Kid Part II which take
place in 1985, Sato grew even more wealthier as an industrialist and owns his own dojo,
as he is the karate instructor for Cadena Air Base. Chozen is very loyal to his uncle,
and is more than willing to back his uncle's plot to fight Miyagi to the death as a witness.
Chozen purchases the crops that the villagers grow as part of his business he owns with Sato,
but is shown to be using rigged weights, which is exposed by Daniel. This angers Chozen as when
he encounters Daniel and Kumiko later on that night, he promises to kill Daniel the next time
he insults his honor. While visiting town, Kumiko shows Daniel the dojo that Sato owns, where Chozen
teaches a class. Chozen is able to quickly disarm multiple attackers with ease, and is revealed to
be Sato's #1 student. When Daniel and Kumiko visit a nearby bar where students are trying to break
the ice, Toshio, Chozen's friend, goes off to tell Chozen that he sees Daniel and Kumiko at the bar.
Daniel is roped in to try to break six ice at the request of Chozen and others at the bar,
which he does successfully thanks to Miyagi's reminder to breathe and focus. Chozen is upset
and at first refuses to let his uncle fulfill the bet, saying “we do not honor bet with coward,” but
Sato tells Chozen to stand down, as a deal is a deal. When Miyagi's three days to mourn are up,
Chozen, Toshio, and Taro are ordered to destroy the crops if Miyagi does not comply to fight Sato.
Chozen and his friends later confront Daniel that night at the club for the money that he lost in
the bet, but Daniel manages to grab his money and takes off with Kumiko. Not too long after,
Sato and Chozen show up at Miyagi's house, where they are ordered by Sato to destroy his property,
and Chozen soundly beats Daniel again. However, Mr. Miyagi shows up and easily dispatches all 3,
before taking a hit from Chozen, the only person to land a hit on Mr. Miyagi in the entire
franchise. Miyagi is then backed into a corner by Sato – if he does not agree to the fight,
the village will be destroyed. Miyagi agrees only if no matter who wins, the village goes back to
the ownership of the villagers. That night, a typhoon comes and causes damage, most notably
destroying Sato's home & dojo and pinning Sato underneath it, who Chozen thinks is dead.
Sato is still furious at Miyagi believing that he is there to kill Sato at his lowest,
but Miyagi instead saves Sato's life and is helped back to shelter by Daniel and Miyagi.
When they realize that Yuna is out there in the storm, Sato orders Chozen to help Daniel,
but Chozen refuses. Sato then goes out and helps Daniel with Yuna when Daniel loses his strength,
and when all 3 come back inside, Sato disowns and disgraces Chozen in front of everyone. Chozen,
who gives one last look of daggers to Daniel, runs out into the storm and is not seen again.
The villagers, including Daniel and Miyagi, all celebrate the O-bon festival at the ancient
castle. Kumiko is about to perform her dance until Chozen appears and interrupts the festival,
holding Kumiko at knife point. Sato asks him to stop as he was wrong about hate, but Chozen
refuses, demanding a death match with Daniel for all of the dishonor and disgrace he has caused,
otherwise he will kill Kumiko. Daniel reluctantly agrees and Chozen is more than a match for Daniel.
He is able to anticipate and counter the Crane Kick, and nearly cripples Daniel with a flying
kick, as the kick destroys part of a statue. With the help of Miyagi and the rest of the village,
Daniel remembers the drum technique and uses it to disarm Chozen, who insists on a warrior's death.
However, Daniel instead spares Chozen's life with a honk to the nose. After this, Chozen was
suicidal and still felt that he had no more honor or purpose in life, but he is saved by his uncle,
who gives him another chance to prove himself. Chozen begins to grow and change as an individual,
and before passing on, Sato entrusts Chozen with all Miyagi artifacts, as Chozen now runs his own
dojo of Miyagi-Do in Okinawa. 34 years later, Chozen is contacted by Kumiko when Daniel visits
Okinawa, who is looking for answers. Daniel still remembers how Chozen almost killed both him and
Kumiko and is at first nervous around Chozen, but Chozen, although rather stoically, is respectful
to Daniel. Chozen is surprised that Daniel knows the origins of Miyagi-Do Karate and shows Daniel
all the artifacts that Sato gave him. However, Chozen refuses to show Daniel a scroll, and Daniel
argues that because he was a like a son to Mr. Miyagi, that no secrets should be kept from him.
Chozen issues a challenge to Daniel to see what he knows and so they engage in some sparring fights
where Chozen easily bests Daniel in every fight. In their last fight, Chozen uses a technique to
cripple Daniel, seemingly ready to kill him but instead honks his nose out of retaliation as a
joke. With this pressure point technique, Chozen reveals two things about the darker
aspect of Miyagi-Do: defense takes on many forms, and sometimes there was no choice but to kill, as
the secret pressure points were used to paralyze the limbs of the opponent. At this point, time has
taught Chozen many things along with his uncle – letting go of hatred and his rivalry, learning how
to move on from his past actions, and doing his best to prove he is a changed person, something
that Kumiko is a witness to. Chozen agrees to teach Daniel the technique, and tells Daniel
how his uncle saved him from suicide. Daniel forgives Chozen, which means a lot to Chozen,
and reveals he is teaching Miyagi-Do Karate here in Okinawa. Part of his sparring with Daniel
could've been used as a way to sharpen his skills with the only other Miyagi-Do sensei in the world.
Before leaving, Chozen entrusts Daniel with the Miyagi-Do scroll technique, and they part ways.
Let's take a look at some of the similarities that Chozen shares with his predecessors,
Sato and Miyagi. As seen in The Karate Kid Part II, Chozen is very proud to be Sato's nephew,
and his loyalty to his uncle rivals that of Daniel's loyalty to Miyagi. Chozen also
proudly carries on teaching the Miyagi name in the future, as he has his own Dojo and teaches classes
just like his uncle did. It is very likely that Sato also knew the deadlier aspect of Miyagi-Do,
as we see on the posters he is featured on that the style is “proven in combat,”
and Chozen himself is a proficient fighter in Sato's Miyagi-Do style. Chozen knowing the full
extent of the style makes him very similar to Miyagi and Sato, as they both had that knowledge
as well. Although Chozen honks Daniel's nose because it is what he did to him back in 1985,
clearly this is subtle reference to Mr. Miyagi, as he was the one who did it on Kreese in front of
Daniel after the All-Valley Tournament. One thing that Chozen asks Daniel is that “so, you think you
know everything?” This is very reminiscent to a conversation that Daniel and Miyagi have in
Karate Kid 1, where Miyagi says “Trust the quality of what you know, not the quantity,” touching
on a similar theme that you don't know always know everything, so trust in what you do know.
As seen in Season 3, Chozen is more humble and wise, almost like he is a modern-day Mr. Miyagi
in terms of his demeanor. Chozen even mentions that he could only hope to be like Mr. Miyagi,
as he was a great and honorable sensei. At first glance, Chozen is shown to still have
somewhat of a grudge, but yet is stoic and respectful to Daniel, very much how Sato
still held a grudge against Miyagi, but was respectful and honorable when he had to be.
This tough facade at first is also similar to Daniel meeting Mr. Miyagi for the very first time,
where Miyagi was not a fan of Daniel at first, but soon warmed up and was noted for being very
humorous. Chozen is the same way when he reveals that he has since moved past his
grudge and has a Miyagi-like sense of humor when honking Daniel's nose. By the way he dresses,
it can still be implied that he has some sort of wealth like his uncle did, as Sato did leave him
the artifacts of Miyagi-Do. Chozen was also his uncle's right hand-man in Karate Kid Part II,
and did have his hand in some of Sato's business operations, and with Chozen now running his own
dojo, he is very much like a modern day Sato. One thing to note is that how Sato helped saved Daniel
and Yuna's life by helping him up during the typhoon when he lost his strength, by teaching
Daniel the Miyagi Secret Pressure Points, he saves Daniel's life in his fight against Kreese.
Let's talk about the symbolism of Chozen's character in his appearances. When he and
Daniel are sparring, Chozen wears a dark black but faded gi, where Daniel wears a traditional
white gi. This attire can be interpreted in many different ways. The obvious first one would be
the concept of Yin and Yang, especially noted by the shot where Daniel and Chozen are sparring with
bo staffs. This same interpretation can also be seen as Chozen either knowing or being the dark
path of Miyagi-Do, as he knows the true art of the style. This is also evident in Karate Kid
Part II, as Chozen could be seen as a more serious and skillful counterpart to Daniel,
and could represent what Daniel would've turned out to be if he grew up in Okinawa.
Another interpretation is that new or newer students normally wear white gis, where the
senior students & masters wear black gis; very relevant as Chozen knows the true art of Miyagi-Do
and teaches a class whereas Daniel doesn't know about the full extent, but does teach.
One detail about Chozen's appearance is that before using the pressure point technique,
he does almost a modified version of Mr. Miyagi's kata, as they both end with the same stance.
It is unknown if this is a movement that Chozen learned himself or Sato taught him, but one could
speculate it is the true Miyagi-Do kata. Finally, what is interesting to note is that much like
Johnny, Chozen also wears red opposite of Daniel's blue. This could be a reference to the Red
Oni/Blue Oni trope – where the red is associated with passion, wildness, and defiance (much like
Chozen's younger days), and also characteristics of brawn, being extroverted, enthusiastic,
determined, and filled with a zest of life, where some of these could describe modern day Chozen.
The blue oni is associated with serenity, control, and observance of authority, which is what Daniel
tries to strive for. Other characteristics would be more intelligent, proud, traditional,
introverted, cultured, and good-natured (which some of these would also describe Daniel).
Here are my overall thoughts of Chozen as a character, and what we could see from him
in Season 4. Chozen represents the lesson of forgiveness and redemption. While he valued
his honor and his uncle, his intentions were very misguided and he also cheated villagers
out of their money for his own personal gain. And although he insisted on dying, Daniel sparing his
life and Sato helping him prove himself turned out to be the best things that could happen to him.
Although Daniel still struggled at times with grudges and holding onto the past,
Chozen was able to put aside his pride and grudge to ultimately help Daniel out, and also repaying
the favor for saving his life. If Mr. Miyagi and Sato were alive, they would definitely be proud
of how far Chozen has come as an individual. Chozen is also one of, if not, the strongest
sensei in the franchise. He was more than a match for Daniel in Karate Kid Part II, and was able to
best him easily in sparring sessions in Season 3. While Daniel was able to beat Kreese and is evenly
matched with Johnny (who also had Kreese on the ropes), Chozen is able to beat Daniel with ease
and very little effort. If it had not been for Chozen teaching Daniel the technique, Daniel's
life may have ended at the hands of Kreese. If Chozen was a force to be reckoned in 1985, he is
even more of a master of his karate now. I think if Daniel would've told Chozen what was happening
with his rival, Johnny, and also try to understand Daniel's side of the story, Chozen may have
convinced Daniel to forgive Johnny quicker. Chozen would have seen Johnny as himself and Kreese as a
very evil Sato, and possibly tell Daniel 'Like you said, he only did what his teacher told him to.'
Chozen could have also reminded Daniel that “for person with no forgiveness in heart,
living is worse punishment than death.” I think Daniel would've flown back to Okinawa and the
next time running into Johnny, would begin to apologize for his actions. Although I think
at this point everyone wants to see a dream match of Daniel, Johnny, and Chozen vs Kreese,
Terry Silver, and Mike Barnes, I think the only way Chozen would be able to tie in to Season 4 if
he was brought in as a guest sensei to help teach Miyagi-Do defense before the tournament. While it
would be awesome to see him engage with Kreese, Silver, or Barnes, I'm not sure if the writers
would be ready to make that happen unless it was done the right way. I could also see Johnny and
Chozen getting along and recounting what they have learned about honor in their own lives, and could
use that lesson to pass on to the students (along with discussing their past run-ins with Daniel).
Chozen could also teach about forgiveness, something he received from Daniel, and to help
the students realize that their rivals are only doing what their sensei is telling them. Chozen
could also teach the students how to defend from multiple attackers, as this could be a situation
that is very likely to happen with Kreese's Cobra Kai. I personally loved Chozen's redemption arc
in Season 3, and it proves Miyagi's quote to be true – "no such thing as a bad student,
only a bad teacher." And because his teacher found balance, so did Chozen. Here's hoping we can see
him again in the future, but if not, at least we know now that Chozen is on the right path.
Let me know what you guys think in the comments below – what do you see Chozen's future looking
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Thanks for watching, stay beautiful, stay awesome, and we'll catch you around next time.