''Rikidōzan'' () is a

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese film written and directed by

Song Hae-sung Song Hae-sung (born October 11, 1964) is a South Korean film director and screenwriter. Career Song made his feature film debut in 1999 with the time-traveling romance ''Calla'', starring Song Seung-heon and Kim Hee-sun, but didn't become more ...

. The film is based on the life of

Rikidōzan (born Kim Sin-rak; ; November 14, 1924 – December 15, 1963), better known as Rikidōzan (), was a Korean-born Japanese wrestler who competed in sumo and professional wrestling. He was known as The Father of Puroresu, and one of the most inf ...

, a legendary ethnic Korean professional wrestler who became a national hero in Japan in the 1950s. It stars

Sol Kyung-gu Sol Kyung-gu (born May 14, 1967) is a South Korean actor. He is best known for his roles in ''Public Enemy (2002 film), Public Enemy'' film series, ''Peppermint Candy'', ''Oasis (2002 film), Oasis'', ''Silmido (film), Silmido'', ''Hope (2013 film ...

in the titular role, with

Miki Nakatani is a Japanese actress and singer. She began her career as a member of the girl group Sakurakko Club from 1991 to 1993, wherein she formed the duo Key West Club with member Keiko Azuma. Nakatani focused on acting after her departure, making he ...

, Tatsuya Fuji, and actual Japanese wrestlers

Keiji Mutoh is a Japanese professional wrestler and professional wrestling executive currently signed to Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah), where he is a former GHC Heavyweight Champion. He is best known for his work as in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Ne ...

and

Masakatsu Funaki is a Japanese actor, mixed martial artist and professional wrestler known professionally as , who has previously wrestled in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi (PWFG), Newborn UWF (UWF), ...

in the cast.

Cast

/Kim Sin-rak:

*Aya:

*Yuzuru Yoshimachi:

Masato Hagiwara is a Japanese actor, voice actor, narrator and professional mahjong player. Biography When Hagiwara was three years old, his parents divorced and he was taken in by his father. However, his father died when he was in the fourth grade, and was th ...

* Keiko Oki: Sawa Suzuki *Kōichi Kasai:

Tarō Yamamoto is a Japanese politician and former actor, who is the founder and current leader of the anti-establishment political party Reiwa Shinsengumi. Yamamoto served as a member of the House of Councillors from 2013 to 2019 and was a candidate in the ...

Masahiko Kimura was a Japanese judoka and professional wrestler who is widely considered one of the greatest judoka of all time.Jim Chen, Theodore ChenThe Man Who Defeated Helio Gracie.July 3, 2003. He won the All-Japan Judo Championships three times in a row ...

† *Kim Myon-gil:

Park Chul-min Park Chul-min (born January 18, 1967) is a South Korean actor. Career Park Chul-min began acting in his high school drama club at Chosun University High School, and though he majored in Business Administration at Chung-Ang University, he spent ...

* Kim Il: No Jun-ho * Kōkichi Endō:

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† *

Toyonobori , known in sumo and professional wrestling as or simply , was a sumo wrestler from Japan. After retiring as a rikishi from sumo, he became a professional wrestler. Career In professional wrestling On December 12, 1954, Toyonobori became a profe ...

Muhammad Yone , better known by his ring name , is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently working for Pro Wrestling Noah, where he is a multi-time GHC Tag Team Champion, a one time GHC Openweight Hardcore Champion and winner of the Global Tag League in 2 ...

† *

Harold Sakata , better known as Harold Sakata, was an American Olympic weightlifter, professional wrestler, and film actor of Japanese descent. He won a silver medal for the United States at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London in weightlifting, and later b ...

† * Azumanami:

Shinya Hashimoto was a Japanese professional wrestler, promoter and actor. Along with Masahiro Chono and Keiji Mutoh, Hashimoto was dubbed one of the "Three Musketeers" that began competing in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) in the mid-1980s and dominated the prom ...

† *Ben Sharpe:

Mike Polchlopek Michael Polchlopek (born December 27, 1965) is an American retired professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from 1993 to 1999 under the ring names Bart Gu ...

† *Mike Sharpe: Jim Steele† *Mr. Atomic (Clyde Steeves):

Rick Steiner Robert Rechsteiner (born March 9, 1961) is an American real estate broker and retired professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Rick Steiner. Steiner is best known for his tenure with World Championship Wrestling (WCW), where he was ...

† *Wrestler:

Makoto Hashi (born May 10, 1977) is a former Japanese professional wrestler, best known for his appearances in Pro Wrestling Noah. Career Hashi's first championship reign in Noah came after he defeated Naomichi Marufuji for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Champi ...

† *Wrestler:

Go Shiozaki is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently signed to the Pro Wrestling Noah promotion where he is the former GHC Heavyweight Champion in a record breaking fifth reign. He made his debut for the promotion in July 2004 and remained with it unti ...

† *Wrestler: Koji Yoshida *Wrestler: Chikara Momota *Announcer: Shigeru Kajiwara *Interviewer: Masami Ogishima *

NTV NTV may refer to: Television * NTV (Bangladesh), a Bengali-language satellite television channel in Bangladesh * NTV (India), Telugu regional channel * NTV (Kenya) * NTV (Mongolia), a television channel based in Mongolia * NTV (Newport Television) ...

President: Shinji Nomura * Nishonoyama

Oyakata The following words are terms used in sumo wrestling in Japan. A B C D E F G H ...

: Kazuyuki Senba *Kenichi Tamura: Munenori Iwamoto *New Havana Club M.C.: Magy *Middle-Aged Woman:

Rei Okamoto is Japanese model and actress who stars as Mia Amagishi in '' Threads of Destiny''. She also appears in the NHK Asadora , colloquially known as , is a serialized, 15 minutes per episode, Japanese television drama program series broadcast in th ...

* Takeo Kanno:

Tatsuya Fuji is a Japanese actor. He was born in Beijing and raised in Yokohama. In 1962, Fuji joined Nikkatsu Company and began his acting career with small roles in Nikkatsu film. In 1968, Fuji married actress Izumi Ashikawa. He gained popularity throu ...

†denotes an actual

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

Reception

Sol Kyung-gu gained 20 kilograms (44 lbs.) for the role and also delivered 95% of his lines in Japanese. Despite winning great praise for his performance, however, the film vastly underperformed in the box office on its local release, with total admissions at 1,249,794. Nevertheless, ''Rikidozan'' was recognized at the

42nd 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

Grand Bell Awards The Grand Bell Awards (), also known as the Daejong Film Awards, is an awards ceremony presented annually by The Motion Pictures Association of Korea for excellence in film in South Korea. The Grand Bell Awards retains prestige as the oldest co ...

, winning Best Director for

, and Best Cinematography for Kim Hyung-koo.

References

External links

* *
''Rikidozan''
at

Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio Conglomerate (company), conglom ...

Japan 2004 films 2000s sports drama films 2004 biographical drama films South Korean sports drama films South Korean biographical films Sports films based on actual events Biographical films about sportspeople Professional wrestling films Films set in the 1950s Films set in the 1960s Films set in Japan Films directed by Song Hae-sung CJ Entertainment films 2000s Japanese-language films 2000s Korean-language films Japanese multilingual films South Korean multilingual films Cultural depictions of South Korean men Cultural depictions of professional wrestlers 2004 drama films South Korean films based on actual events 2000s South Korean films {{SouthKorea-film-stub