Yasuaki Kurata is awesome

[KRLover]

I saw a clip of him on Fist of Legend on Youtube fighting Jet li. Then I saw more clips of Youtube. I never knew about him but now, I think he is one of the best Japanese Martial Artists of all time.
Here are some reasons why I think so.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbkDpUVaxMs&feature=related[/ame]
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7p2YmjZ6FRY&feature=related[/ame]
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmLtjJjUWs4&feature=related[/ame]

In my opinion, he's like a Japanese Bruce Lee.

 

[Bolt]

Kurata's no Bruce, but he's definitely one of the top-tier Japanese stuntmen, especially for his time. He's done mostly supporting roles since the 70's and still manages to steal the show in almost all the films he appears in. You should check out Sonny Chiba's The Executioner. Kurata plays second fiddle but really gets to shine once the action starts in the second half.

Also, if you're interested, he plays an excellent villain role in the Shaw Bros. classic Heroes of the East (aka Shaolin Challenges Ninja). I'm pretty sure Dragon Dynasty put it our recently, so it's sure to look and sound great.

 

[KAGEKI]

He's very impressive I must say, I'm not sure why he's not as popular as he should be.

 

[ryuuseipro]

Don't forget that Kurata was also the star of Nippon Gendai/Senkousha's 1976 series, Fight, Dragon!, in which he plays a Bruce Lee-style warrior. Bolo Yeung guest-stars in the series at some point! Shunsuke Kikuchi's theme song (sung by Masato Shimon) is awesome!

 

[Zensouken]

Yasuaki Kurata is a cold-blooded gangsta. He's been in so much stuff over the years. The 1st vid is him in a really old movie I don't know the name of but Tommy Boy dubbed it into ghetto-ness and he's the villian, 'nuff said. The 2nd vid is him in Return of Sister Street Fighter, his last fight in the movie is totally badass. The 3rd vid is him in this 70's Japanese cop drama about this group of detectives cleaning up the streets. He's the kung-fu dude who destroys everyone and is usually wearing flashy white clothing. G-Men is actually a very good show if you can get past the language barrier.

EDIT: The first 2 don't seem to load with embeds but if you click the link at the top of each video, they will load automatically.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XHxHivq3oI"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XHxHivq3oI[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hZIr6-cM_Y&feature=PlayList&p=B189971F167DCD3C&playnext=1&index=5"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hZIr6-cM_Y&feature=PlayList&p=B189971F167DCD3C&playnext=1&index=5[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cg0Fz3PuVjE&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cg0Fz3PuVjE&feature=related[/ame]

 

[ryuuseipro]

The 3rd vid is him in this 70's Japanese cop drama about this group of detectives cleaning up the streets. He's the kung-fu dude who destroys everyone and is usually wearing flashy white clothing. G-Men is actually a very good show if you can get past the language barrier.

This?

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cg0Fz3PuVjE"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cg0Fz3PuVjE[/ame]

This isn't G-Men '75 (and I don't know why they called it that), that's the OP for Fight, Dragon! (The one I was just talking about.)