- "No more talk! You cross bridge or I'll KILL her!"
- ―Chozen to Daniel LaRusso[src]
Chozen Toguchi serves as the main antagonist of The Karate Kid Part II.
Chozen is portrayed by Yuji Okumoto.
Fictional Character Biography
The Karate Kid Part II
Chozen is the nephew of Sato Toguchi, whose disdain for Mr. Miyagi is inherited from his uncle and is evident almost immediately, referring to him as a "coward" throughout the film. Chozen also shows immediate disdain to Daniel LaRusso both due to being a foreigner and a student of Miyagi's. Like Johnny Lawrence from the first film, he is portrayed as a bully and rival to Daniel, constanty tormenting and attacking him. Unlike Johnny, however, Chozen is far more adept at hand-to-hand combat and is referred to several times in the film as Sato's star pupil. Through a series of confrontations, including an incident where Daniel reveals that Chozen has been cheating the farmers of Tomi Village by using rigged weights, this grows into extreme hatred, as Chozen believes that he has been dishonored by Daniel. The full extent of Chozen's hatred for Daniel is not revealed until the latter portion of the film where, despite Sato's insistence, a fearful Chozen outright refuses to help Daniel rescue a child from a typhoon. This deliberate act of defiance prompts an angry Sato to disown him, causing Chozen to run off into the storm humiliated.
In a misguided attempt to regain his honor, a deranged Chozen invades the O-bon festival, holds Kumiko hostage at knife point (despite Miyagi and Sato's protests) and forces Daniel into a fight to the death. Chozen proves to be a formidable foe, even countering Daniel's crane kick, and manages to gain the upper hand as the fight progresses. In the end, however, he is defeated by Daniel, who uses his "drum technique" to block Chozen's attacks and follow up with a series of counter-attacks. When given the chance to live or die, Chozen chooses to die, but Daniel, in a similar fashion to Miyagi at the beginning of the film, honks his nose instead of delivering the fatal blow, sparing Chozen's life.
Fate
Chozen's fate is unclear after the events of The Karate Kid Part II, though it is possible that he either reformed or committed suicide due to his complete loss of honor.
Personality
Chozen presents himself as a cruel, disrespectful, remorseless, and disgraceful fighter. 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. By cheating the villagers of their money with rigged weights, mugging Daniel of the money he won against him in a bet Daniel won fairly, initially refusing to honor the bet he made when, he showed that he is a sore loser. He also demands for 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. Because of how he sees himself and his definition of honor, Chozen thinks he is a man above morals, and does not see the error 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.
Chozen appears to suffer from Borderline Personality Disorder, a serious mental illness that causes emotional instability and drastic measures to avoid perceived abandonment by others. This is evidenced by his severe emotional mood swings and the fact that Chozen flew into a rage after he was "dishonored" by Daniel and deemed the only way to make it right was by killing Daniel. Chozen very likely has this disorder, as his behavior, self-image and relationships with others are hampered by Chosen as a result of him also suffering from an Impulse Control Disorder. When he is "rejected" by people he deems important in his life, Chozen takes even more drastic measures to ensure he is "respected". This likely means that Chozen's twisted definition of honor has less to do with a strange and unusual moral code and more to do with an extremely unstable brain chemistry that twists the definition to whatever suits him best.
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 the only main antagonist to challenge Daniel LaRusso to a death match, which would make him the only Karate Kid villain to be merciless.
- Chozen is also the only main antagonist who was offered repeated chances at changing his ways (like his uncle) yet he refused belligerently and dishonorably.
- Chozen is the only character to successfully land a strike on Miyagi, although he actually wanted to hit Daniel and Miaygi was hit unintentionally.
- Chozen is the final boss in Atlas's The Karate Kid video game for the Famicom or Nintendo Entertainment System.