Kesuke Miyagi, otherwise known as Nariyoshi Miyagi and almost always known as Mr. Miyagi, is the overarching protagonist of the The Karate Kid franchise. Originally born on June 9, 1925, in Tomi Village, Okinawa, Japan, later, he became the Wise, Strong, and good-natured mentor of the Bullied Daniel LaRusso. Teaching Daniel how to have Honorability and Respect to defend himself from bullies and sparing his enemies.
He was portrayed by the late Pat Morita.
What makes him Pure Good?[]
In General/Background[]
- He is technically the reason for Daniel LaRusso's admirability, as the training he gave to him was key to his honorability, respect, and fighting skills.
- While he did fight in the war, there's no proof that he was sadistic and lethal, as he was known for not wanting violence and doing the opposite.
- In general, it seems that Miyagi was opposed to karate tournaments and competitions and instead preferred to teach students who suffered from bullying, not for success.
- When he has a disagreement with Sato and is told to fight to the death for Yukie's love, he is insulted by the idea and decides to make a speech about it and leave for America.
- He received a bronze star, a silver star, an Army Commendation medal, and many more things in WW2, due to being indispensable in the American Military.
- When fighting in WW2 and his wife died giving birth in a Manzanar camp, he felt extreme sadness about it and possibly left the military or looked down on what he did.
- In Season 6, there was some evidence that he robbed a store and beat up its owner before fleeing America, as well as killing his opponent in the Sekai Taikai tournament. However, it was not confirmed or clarified how malicious Mr. Miyagi was, so this does not disqualify him from being PG.
The Karate Kid 1[]
- When he met the young Daniel LaRusso, he fixed his bike and became friends/father and grandson figures.
- During the beating of Daniel, he saved him from Johnny Lawrence, Dutch, Bobby Brown, Thomas, and Jimmy.
- While he would later set a tournament between Daniel and Johnny, this is not corrupting as it was a fair battle until Kreese told Johnny to take advantage of Daniel LaRusso's broken leg.
- For weeks on end, he would teach Daniel how to learn karate and despite him almost losing the tournament he showed no anger towards him and said that throwing in the towel isn't a bad thing, afterwards he heals him and is disgusted by John Kreeses behavior.
- When Kreese attacks Johnny for losing the tournament, despite Johnny's behavior to Daniel, he defends him from Kreese by beating him up.
- While he did show some aggressiveness towards Kreese, not only did these moments of lethality rarely happen again, but he only threatened him to make sure he didn't hurt Johnny and the other kids.
- Also, even though he defeated Kris and could have killed him, he only pinched his nose, which will also serve as an example for Daniel in his fight with Chozen.
- Due to his intervention, he has some responsibility for Johnny Lawrence's redemption.
The Karate Kid 2[]
- He travels to Japan to help his dying father.
- When Daniel joins him with his tuition money, he strongly opposes it, though he relents when he realizes how much Daniel cares about the trip.
- Renewes his love for Yuki, when she remains available to him.
- He is saddened when his father dies and tries to appease Sato again.
- When he conformed his former rival Sato, His nephew, and pupil, Chozen, he showed no anger when they provoked him.
- He tries to avoid confrontation with Sato, although he agrees when Sato tries to destroy his village if he avoids it.
- He saves Daniel when Chosen and his men attack his house at night.
- When Sato gets trapped by a piece of wood in a thunderstorm, he is the first one to try saving him, he then shows reluctance towards leaving Daniel to save a girl from falling to her death but decides to bring Sato to safety first.
- Because of his attitude, he is responsible for Sato's redemption and supporting him and Daniel instead of his nephew, Chozen.
- Gives Daniel a method to fight Chosen using a spinning stick, which everyone waves to encourage Daniel.
- Before Daniel is about to kill Chozen in their fight, he decides to spare Chozen, saving his life.
Karate Kid 3[]
- He lets Daniel live in his house while Daniel lost his original home.
- He says to Daniel that he should focus on his education and not on selling bonsai trees.
- Despite their antagonism, he felt sorry for John Kreese supposedly dying due to his students hating him, although it would be a lie from Terry Silver.
- He tries to prevent Daniel from registering for the Valley competition, when he realizes that it's actually a ruse by Silver to harm Daniel through Mike.
- When Mike Barnes, John Kreese, and Terry Silver beat up and assaulted Daniel LaRusso, he throws Mike against a wall and defeats John, and finally, Terry.
- He forgives Daniel for teaming up with Silver and breaking a child's nose while angry.
- He encourages the depressed Daniel with a bonsai tree that survived Barnes' attack on the store.
- When Silver's interference against Daniel is revealed, he helps him compete in a tournament against Barnes.
- Encourages Daniel to find inner balance within himself, which allows him to defeat Barnes.
- After the fight between Daniel and Barnes and the win from Daniel, he gets the Cobra Kai All-Valley tournaments shut down.
The Next Karate Kid[]
- He comforts the widow of a soldier from his team, Louisa Pierce, at a ceremony for soldiers of the 442nd Infantry Regiment.
- He invites Louisa to stay at his home in Los Angeles to relax from caring for Julie, while he stays in Boston to care for Julie.
- While taking care of her, he teaches Julie Pierce, Karate.
- He helps heal the injured wing of a buzzard from Julie's school.
- Miyagi helping Julie to defeat the alpha student, Ned Randall, as Miyagi beats up the alpha sensei, Paul Dugan after the last order to attacking Eric McGowenand later trying attack Miagi himself.
- The Colonel's defeat apparently led to the closure of his violent group, as his students seemed shocked by his path as well as his fall at the hands of Miyagi.
Cobra Kai[]
- It is implied that Miyagi gave his cars to Daniel and helped him make money from his dealership. He also left him his house.
- He remained in good terms with Daniel after he married, as well as with his wife and two sons: Sam and Anthony.
- His personality and personal example help Daniel train the children of the valley to learn karate from a place of stability instead of anger and later also to defend himself from the "Cobra Kai" group.
- Although his influence is relatively marginal, he still helped Chozen after influencing his uncle and Daniel to treat him with respect, which led to his redemption.
- During an argument with Johnny about the path of karate, Daniel remembers that Miyagi told Daniel to choose his own independent path in karate and not necessarily follow him, which helps him come to terms with Johnny's shared path.
- In season 6, the owner of a boxing gym admits that Miyagi was the co-owner alongside his grandfather of the gym, which in fact would not have been possible without Miyagi's help, and his grandfather saw him as a good person who he trusted with his life.
Trivia[]
- So far, he is the only hero from Karate Kid to be approved as Pure Good.
- While Cobra Kai expands on Mr. Miyagi's past, revealing the possibility of one of his fights resulting in a death, there is no where near enough context to consider removing him from Pure Good.
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 Pure Goods
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Animated Features Live-Action Features Scripts See Also | ||
External Links[]
- Kesuke Miyagi on the Heroes Wiki