Karate Kiba (1973)
1973 film by Ryūichi Takamori
- Released
- 30 June 1973
- Country
- Japan
- Language
- Japanese
- Genre
- Martial arts film
- Director
- Ryūichi Takamori
- Screenplay
- Ryūzō Nakanishi
- Music
- Toshiaki Tsushima
- Cinematography
- Yoshio Nakajima
- Editing
- Osamu Tanaka
- Starring
- Sonny Chiba, Mas Oyama, Yayoi Watanabe, Mari Atsumi, Eiji Gō, Ryōhei Uchida, Rinichi Yamamoto, Kinji Takinami
- Running time
- 87 minutes
Bodyguard Kiba (Japanese: ボディガード牙, Hepburn: Bodigaado Kiba) is a 1973 Japanese martial arts film starring Sonny Chiba. It is based on an action manga by Ikki Kajiwara.
A recut version was released in the United States in 1976 by Terry Levine's Aquarius Releasing as The Bodyguard, with added footage directed by Simon Nuchtern in the first ten minutes of the film, featuring American martial arts stars Bill Louie and Aaron Banks.
Bodyguard Kiba was followed by the sequel Bodigaado Kiba: Hissatsu sankaku tobi, released later that same year. There were then three more film adaptations directed by Takashi Miike at the beginning of his career with Takeshi Yamato in the role of Kiba released in 1993, 1994, and 1995.
External links
Facts from Wikidata Q2266404 (CC0); quoted introduction from English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Data retrieved 2026-10-22.
Data: Wikidata (CC0 1.0); Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.