Mr. Miyagi

Born June 9, 1925 in Okinawa, Japan.

Miyagi learned karate from his father, a fisherman. He worked for the richest man in the village, whose son Sato was Miyagi's best friend. In a departure from the local tradition of fathers only teaching karate to their own sons, and at Miyagi's request, Miyagi's father also taught Sato. Miyagi fell in love with Yukie, who was arranged to marry Sato. Dishonored by their love, Sato challenged Miyagi to a fight to the death. Therefore, Miyagi chose to emigrate to the United States without Yukie to avoid fighting Sato.

Emigrating to Hawaii as a teenager, he worked as a farm laborer in the Hawaiian cane fields, where he met his wife, who was also a farm laborer.

After first arriving in Los Angeles, he attended the University of California, Santa Barbara, married, and was later interned in the Manzanar Japanese-American internment camp at the onset of World War II. During this time, Miyagi joined the U.S. Army and received the Medal of Honor (he was a member of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, historically one of the most highly decorated regiments in the history of the United States Armed Forces, including 21 Medal of Honor recipients). While in the Army, he taught his commanding officer, Lieutenant Jack Pierce, the art of karate. During his service, Mrs. Miyagi and their newborn son died in the Manzanar camp due to complications during childbirth, a loss that haunted him for decades.[7] What Miyagi did during the time between the war and the first Karate Kid film is not fully known.

Listed below are the medals and service awards displayed on Staff Sergeant Miyagi's uniform in The Karate Kid.

Personal decorations Medal of Honor Silver Star Bronze Star Medal Army Commendation Medal Purple Heart, w/1 bronze oak leaf cluster Unit awards Presidential Unit Citation Service Awards Army Good Conduct Medal Campaign and service medals American Campaign Medal European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, w/4 service stars World War II Victory Medal

Other accoutrements Combat Infantryman Badge 442nd Regimental Combat Team Combat Service Identification Badge

In The Karate Kid, Miyagi works as a maintenance man at the South Seas apartment complex Daniel LaRusso and his mother have just moved into. When Daniel's bike is damaged in an ambush by bullies and he throws it away, Miyagi repairs and returns it. Miyagi rescues Daniel after he is beaten up by the same bullies during a Halloween party, fending off the attackers easily. When Daniel realizes Miyagi saved him, he asks to be taught karate. Miyagi resists, wanting instead to prevent the bullying entirely. However, when meeting the rambunctious and merciless John Kreese -a former Special Forces veteran running the Cobra Kai dojo and sensei of the bullies- proves futile, Miyagi agrees to teach Daniel. Kreese agrees to a cessation of hostilities until the time of a karate tournament where Daniel and the bullying Cobra Kai students will compete. Miyagi starts Daniel's training with several non-karate-related house chores, albeit with specific rhythmic patterns: the first day of training sees Daniel waxing a number of cars; on the second, he sands the wooden floors of Miyagi's house; on the third, he paints a fence with vertical strokes; on the fourth, he paints Miyagi's house with horizontal strokes. Daniel, unaware of Miyagi's training methods, gets upset and threatens to leave, so Miyagi shows him that the chores were in fact training Daniel to use karate blocks through muscle memory. Miyagi begins training Daniel in earnest and their deep friendship develops. One night, Miyagi drunkenly laments the death of both his wife and newborn son during childbirth at Manzanar internment camp while he was serving with the 442nd Infantry Regiment during World War II in Europe (where he received the Medal of Honor). Miyagi's karate teachings also include important life lessons such as personal balance, reflected in the principle that martial arts training is as much about training the spirit as the body. Miyagi accompanies Daniel at the tournament, where Daniel wins the finals.

In The Karate Kid Part II, shortly after the tournament, Miyagi confronts John Kreese as he attacks his own students in the parking lot. Miyagi humiliates him, first by causing Kreese to punch out car windows with his bare hands, then subduing him and honking his nose comically. Six months later, Miyagi receives a letter that states his father is dying. Miyagi explains that he once fell in love with a woman named Yukie, who was arranged to marry his best friend, Sato, son of the richest man in the village and fellow karate student of Miyagi's father. Upon Miyagi announcing his intentions to marry Yukie, Sato, feeling dishonored, challenged him to a fight to the death. Rather than fight, Miyagi left Okinawa in self-imposed exile. Miyagi and Daniel travel to Okinawa, where they are greeted by Chozen Toguchi. He drives Miyagi and Daniel to a warehouse where Sato is waiting and reveals himself as Sato's nephew. Sato tries to goad Miyagi into a fight to restore his honor, but Miyagi turns it down. Once at the village, Miyagi and Daniel are welcomed by Yukie and her niece, Kumiko. The two reveal that Sato owns the village's land title and the villagers are forced to rent their property from him. Yukie reveals that she never married because of her love for Miyagi. Miyagi's father dies; out of respect, Sato gives him three days to mourn before their fight. Miyagi shows Daniel the secret to his family's karate – a handheld drum that twists back and forth illustrating the "drum technique", a block-and-defense karate move that Daniel begins to practice. After Daniel is attacked and Miyagi's family property is vandalized by Chozen and his crew, he decides to return to California before the situation worsens. However, Sato shows up with bulldozers, threatening to destroy the village if Miyagi refuses to fight. Forced to comply, Miyagi gives in on the condition that Sato sign the village's land title over to the villagers regardless of the fight's outcome. Sato initially balks but agrees after Miyagi describes it as a "small price" to pay for his honor. On the day before their fight, a typhoon strikes the village and Sato becomes trapped under the ruins of a dojo that was toppled by the storm. Miyagi rescues him and they hide in a nearby shelter with other village folk and Chozen. After seeing a child stuck on top of a bell tower, Daniel goes to rescue her; Sato demands that Chozen help, but Chozen refuses and runs out into the storm after Sato disowns him. The next morning, the bulldozers return - to help rebuild the village this time - while Sato hands over the village's land title and asks forgiveness from Miyagi, who accepts. Miyagi and others attend an O-bon festival at the castle of the village, where a vengeful Chozen takes Kumiko hostage and challenges Daniel to a fight to the death. Miyagi, along with others in the festival, begin using handheld drums to inspire Daniel, allowing him to subdue Chozen and rescue Kumiko.

In The Karate Kid Part III, Miyagi and Daniel return to California and discover that the South Seas apartment complex has been closed, leaving Daniel homeless and Miyagi unemployed. Miyagi offers Daniel the choice to stay at his house. Daniel uses his college funding to help Miyagi open up a nursery shop for bonsai trees. Miyagi thanks Daniel by making him a partner in the new business. Meanwhile, John Kreese is attempting to resurrect Cobra Kai and get revenge on Daniel and Miyagi with the help of his longtime friend, Terry Silver, who hires Mike Barnes, a vicious karate expert. Daniel chooses not to defend his title in the next competition, though he continues his training under Miyagi. Silver approaches them and claims that Kreese has died and requests forgiveness for Kreese's behavior. Barnes, meanwhile, attempts to goad Daniel into entering the tournament by picking a fight with him that goes badly for Daniel until Miyagi intervenes and fends Barnes off. The two later find that their bonsai trees have been stolen and replaced with an application for the tournament. To save the store, Daniel and his newly befriended neighbor, Jessica Andrews, decide to collect and sell a valuable bonsai tree that Miyagi had brought back from Okinawa and planted halfway down an ocean basin. However, Barnes returns while Daniel and Jessica ascend uphill, holding them hostage until Daniel agrees to compete in the tournament. Barnes then snaps the tree in half. Daniel takes the broken bonsai tree to Miyagi; he performs triage on the bonsai while confessing that he sold his truck in order to obtain a new stock of trees and that he cannot train Daniel for the tournament. Daniel accepts training under Silver's brutal conditions and ends up attacking a man at a nightclub. Seeing what he has become, Daniel apologizes to Miyagi and Jessica soon afterward. When Daniel decides not to compete after all, Silver unveils his true agenda: Barnes and Kreese appear and attack Daniel. Miyagi enters and defends Daniel, agreeing to train him once more. The two repair their friendship and replant the now-healed bonsai tree. At the tournament, Daniel defeats Barnes as Miyagi looks on, while Silver and Kreese speculate that Cobra Kai is finished for good.

In The Next Karate Kid, Miyagi travels to Boston, Massachusetts to attend a commendation for Japanese-American soldiers who fought in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team during World War II. He meets Louisa Pierce, the widow of his commanding officer, Lt. Jack Pierce, and Julie, Jack and Louisa's teenage granddaughter. Julie has behavioral and anger problems stemming from losing her parents in an automobile accident and being bullied at school by the Alpha Elite. Miyagi invites Louisa to stay in his house in Los Angeles to relax while Miyagi stays in Boston to act as Julie's caretaker. Julie has friction at school and with Miyagi; he watches as she attempts to leave and narrowly misses being struck by a car by managing to jump into a tiger crouch onto the hood. Julie explains that she learned rudimentary karate from her father, Jack's son; Jack had taught his son what he learned from Miyagi during the war. After Julie gets arrested during a two-week suspension from school, Miyagi uses the remainder of time to take Julie to a Buddhist monastery. There, he teaches Julie the true ways of karate -balance, co-ordination, awareness and respect for all life- and helps her overcome her anger issues. As Julie is preparing for her high school prom, Miyagi shows her how to dance and buys her a dress. While Julie attends the prom, Miyagi goes bowling with the Buddhist monks. Things go awry when Julie and her date, Eric McGowen, come under siege by Colonel Dugan and the Alpha Elite. Eric's car is set on fire and Eric is saved by Julie and Miyagi. The fiasco ends when Miyagi challenges Colonel Dugan to a fight and easily defeats him.

In Cobra Kai, Miyagi is revealed to have passed away on November 15, 2011 at the age of 86. Among other details, his gravestone lists him as a member of the 442nd Regiment along with a Combat Service Identification Badge and a Medal of Honor. Alongside the marker is a bonsai tree. Daniel takes the time to regularly visit the grave and trim the bonsai; he considers "a few months" to be a long time between visits. The memory of Miyagi still continues to play a role in Daniel's life, as he seeks to regain balance by practicing karate once again and becoming a mentor to Robby Keene, trying to turn his protege's life around as Miyagi had done for him. Following the conclusion of the All Valley Karate Tournament, Daniel is concerned with the resurgence of Cobra Kai Dojo and decides to start his own dojo in response, locating it at the former residence of Miyagi, which Daniel currently owns.

Unfortunately, at the end of Season 2, a nasty brawl between the students of Miyagi-do and Cobra Kai came into action, and Daniel's wife Amanda furiously demands Daniel to close down the dojo to prevent any more incidents.

Mr. Miyagi has a deep philosophical knowledge of life and extraordinary martial arts skill.[8] In the second film, Mr. Miyagi explains that he is descended from Shimpo Miyagi, who was very fond of both fishing and sake. One day in 1625 while fishing and very drunk, he passed out on his fishing boat off the coast of Okinawa and ended up on the coast of China. Ten years later, Shimpo returned to Okinawa with his Chinese wife, his two kids, and the secret of Miyagi family karate. This, along with Miyagi's claim from the first film that his ancestor derived karate from Chinese te, implies that Shimpo Miyagi, like many Okinawan karate masters, was trained in Chinese martial arts during his stay in China. The secret of the Miyagi family karate appears to be a Den-den daiko, on which the drum technique is based. Other aspects of the style involve the crane technique, breathing technique, techniques from the kata Tensho (wax on wax off) and the kata Seiunchin (third movie).

Mr. Miyagi trains the player and is a hidden unlockable fighter in the game Reality Fighters for PS Vita. He wears his trademark outfit, uses a fishing pole as a weapon, repeatedly mentions his bonsai-growing, and makes subtle references to Karate Kid, including the fly-and-chopsticks exercise.

Mr. Miyagi was inducted into the Fictitious Athlete Hall of Fame in 2015 in the Contributor Category.[9]