Rikidozan’s Legendary ‘Karate Chop’ Rooted in Ancient Korean Subak and Mindung-Ssireum, 1978 Archival Discovery Reveals

Newly uncovered historical testimony from a 1978 Japanese combat sports magazine confirms the martial arts icon practiced northern Korean beltless grappling and striking during his childhood in Hamgyong Province.

A groundbreaking historical discovery is reshaping the narrative of modern Asian martial arts and pro-wrestling history. Newly identified archival records from a 1978 (Showa 53) interview in the Japanese combat sports magazine The Ring reveal that Rikidozan (born Kim Sin-rak), the founding father of Japanese professional wrestling, credited his martial roots to the traditional physical culture of northern Korea.

In the archival interview, Rikidozan testified that he had been actively practicing his signature striking movements—which the public later came to know as the legendary “Karate Chop”—since his early childhood (under the age of 10) while living with his family in Hongwon County, Hamgyong남도 Province (now North Korea).

This definitive primary evidence confirms that his devastating hand-blade strike did not originate from orthodox Japanese Karate-dō. Instead, it was an innate kinetic mechanism derived from Subak (the ancient Korean striking art) and Mindung-Ssireum (the traditional, beltless regional folk wrestling), both of which were deeply embedded in the warrior culture of the northern Korean peninsula where he and his brother wrestled. Historical film analysis from 1955 further substantiates this, showing Rikidozan practicing heavy sandbag strikes utilizing a distinct “mortar-pestle” (절구질) torso-tilting weight-shifting method, a characteristic biomechanic of northern Korean martial arts radically different from linear Karate movements.

While standardized Ssireum (utilizing the satba fabric sash) was jointly inscribed onto the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2018, the ancestral, sashless Mindung-Ssireum practiced by Rikidozan represents the older, unrefined regional grappling variant that faced near-extinction following the division of Korea.

Master Jun-ho Song, President of the World Subak Federation and the foremost authority on northern diaspora martial traditions, has meticulously cataloged these rare archival materials alongside the oral lineages of North Korean refugees (including the late Song Chang-ryeol and Oh Jin-hwan).

“Rikidozan merely adopted the term ‘Karate Chop’ in post-war Japan for promotional familiarity and marketability,” stated Master Jun-ho Song. “This newly discovered archival proof bridges the gap between modern combat sports legends and ancient Korean physical heritage. It legally and historically validates that the takedown and striking mechanics preserved within the Subak system are vital components of a globally recognized intangible cultural heritage.”

Rikidozan: The Mortar-Pestle Strike, 1955 Subak Training

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