Fumio Demura - Ep 107 whistlekick Martial Arts Radio Podcast - Karate Legend, Karate Kid Real Miyagi
Channel: whistlekick
Date: 04/08/2016

This episode of the whistlekick Martial Arts Radio podcast is a profile of the legendary karate actor, choreographer, instructor and kata and sparring competitor, Fumio Demura.

Not long after moving the US Demura got a gig doing martial arts demonstrations at the Japanese Deer Park, a local attraction in California. The shows were different from martial arts demonstrations of the day, which showcased martial artists coming close but not making contact. Demura’s demonstrations featured people reacting to this near contact, making it look like a fight. While there were likely others offering demonstrations this way, these demos at the Deer Park were certainly popularized by Fumio Demura and he’s sometimes credited with developing the method.

He was the stunt double for Pat Morita, who played Miyagi, in the karate kid movies. It was Chuck Norris who introduced Demura to the production people for The Karate Kid. He was originally intended to be Miyagi, but he knew his English wasn’t good enough. From there he became the stunt double.

It’s hard to talk about Fumio Demura without mentioning the amazing movie from 2015, The Real Miyagi. What started as a crowdfunding project really turned into an amazing film. It’s a well-done documentary on the life of Shihan Demura and it’s available on Netflix as well as DVD. The cast is a who’s who of martial artists and martial arts actors, including Billy Blanks, Pat Johnson, Dolph Lundgren, Pat Morita, Christine Bannon Rodriguez, Steven Seagal, Bill Wallace, Michael Jai White and many more.