A 100 kg Dad, a Nippon Kempo Rival, and 25 Years Since the Last Match

What's going on

A 43-year-old man from Osaka wrote in to Detective! Knight Scoop, a long-running Kansai TV show where viewers send in odd requests and the show's comedian "detectives" carry them out. His request: he wants to fight the rival he faced 25 years ago.

He took up Nippon Kempo, a full-contact Japanese martial art fought in protective armor with punches and kicks, in first grade and kept at it until the second year of high school, retiring with a first-dan rank. Since then he has put on about 40 kg. He is now 165 cm and 100 kg, and he hasn't played any sport since. His wife and children have never seen him in action. The kids call him "Debi," a play on debu, slang for "fatty," and his mother sighs at the sight of him and keeps telling him to slim down.

So he decided to try again, and to do it against the old rival, in front of the family, to win back a little dignity as a man. As viewers understood it, the rival's condition for a proper rematch is that he lose 20 kg first, and the bout shown on screen was strikes only.

Comments

Might be better off just joining a dojo than paying for a personal trainer.

パーソナルジムに通うより、このまま道場に通った方が良さそう。

Love a rival who’s coming to beat him for real, not just going through the motions because the TV crew is there.

テレビ来てるからとかじゃなく本気で倒しに来てくれるライバルいいな

Kansha-san keeps his build with nothing but bodyweight training and never lets it slip, which is impressive. The footwork keeps him light, you’d never guess he’s had a layoff, and above all those kicks are gorgeous. Wonder if kicks were his specialty back in his competing days too. Great that he held nothing back and finished it.

看舎さん自重トレとはいえ体型キープして怠らないのすごいなーフットワーク使って動きが軽いのもブランクある人に思えないし何より蹴りが鮮やか現役時代から蹴りが得意技だったのかな手心加えず勝ちきったのが素晴らしかった

Kansha-san is just too good-looking, come on.

官舎さんイケメンすぎやろ

What a great friendship.

めちゃくちゃいい友達関係やなぁ

His mom is so pretty and cute 😍

お母さん綺麗で可愛い😍

The sound Kansha-san gets out of that body kick is so “this guy is the real deal.”

看社さんの胴蹴りの音の鳴らし方が強い奴過ぎる

Everyone in this is a good person. What a lovely life.

登場人物みんな良い人。素敵な人生。

Kansha-san is in his 40s and so lean and cool. I should drop about 10 kilos myself… (while eating fries)

カンシャさん40代なのにシュッとしててかっけーな自分も10キロくらい痩せなきゃ・・（ポテト食いながら）

Maybe the one who most wanted to see the client looking cool was Kansha-san himself. Maybe that’s why he set losing 20 kg as the condition for the match.

依頼人の格好良い姿を一番見たかったのは看舎さんじゃないのかなだから勝負の条件として20kg痩せることを求めたのでは

That first kick is the kind that really lands lol After all this time, that’s brutal! No wonder he’s strong.

最初の蹴りはちゃんと効くやつ笑久しぶりやってこれはえぐいねー！強いはずや

Once you get close to 40, the body remembers but the stamina and muscle just don’t follow.

４０歳近くなると体は覚えてるけど体力と筋力がついてこなくなるんよ。

Not even a walk in 20 years and he’s still moving lol The rival who agreed to it on the condition that he lose 20 kg is the real class act.

20年間、ウォーキングも何も全くしてなかったわりには動けてるなぁｗ 20kg痩せることを条件に受けてくれたライバルの方が素敵

Ah… I’d be grateful if you read 方 as “kata,” not “hō.”

ああ・・・方を「ほう」でなく「かた」と読んで頂けたら幸いです

One character, two readings. Read as “hō,” ライバルの方が素敵 is a comparison: “the rival is the nicer one (of the two).” Read as “kata,” a polite word for “person,” it simply means “the rival gentleman is lovely.” The commenter wanted the second meaning, not a dig at the client.

So they went with strikes only. Then again, without that the client might have run out of gas and there’d be no show. Still, as worn down as he is, he moves like a real practitioner. He doesn’t drop his guard where he shouldn’t, which is impressive. You can tell he trained properly.

打撃限定ルールにしたんですね。でもたしかに、そうでもしなければ依頼者の体力が持たなくて番組にならないかもしれない。しかし依頼者、衰えまくっているとはいえちゃんと経験者の動きしていますね、ガードを下げるべきではないところであまり下げないのが凄いです。ちゃんと稽古してきた人なんですね、。

A dad with three kids can’t possibly be uncool.

子ども3人いるお父さんが格好悪いわけがない

These punches and kicks… bodyweight training only…? Way too sharp for someone who’s been away this long lol And the punches after that are clean too, so this is that “the body remembers” thing, huh.

この突き蹴り・・・・自重トレだけか・・・？ブランクからしたら鋭すぎてｗｗｗｗｗその後の突きもきれいだし体が覚えてるってやつか

The client borrowed his gear, but the other guy showed up with his own…

依頼者は防具を借りてるけど、相手の方は来るときにマイ防具持ってきてますからね、、、

Probably modesty. Compared with how absurdly much he trained back in the day, he likely feels that this much practice doesn’t count as “still doing it.”

謙遜でしょうね恐ろしい量の取り組みをされていた当時の自分と比較して「この程度の稽古では『今でもやってる』とは言えないな」的な

A front kick that switches path into a side kick, no way you can react to that lol So Kansha-san is from the same era as Kenou. Wonder if they ever fought each other. (Kenou is a pro wrestler who came up through Nippon Kempo.)

前蹴りから軌道を変えての横蹴りとかあれは反応できないｗ看舎さん、年代的に拳王と同じ時代だったのね。もしかして試合してたりしないかしら。

I was impressed that the punches were so solid after all that time off and no exercise. What you commit to learning seriously, the body doesn’t forget.

久々で運動もしてなかったのに意外と突きがちゃんとしてて感心した真剣に取り組んで身につけたものは身体が忘れないんだな

No, he’s got guts. Dead tired and he still didn’t stop for 30 seconds. Comparing him to his buddy is a no-go, but he looks cool.

いや、ガッツあるよ。ヘトヘトでも30秒止まってないじゃない。親友さんと比べたらだめだけど、かっこいいよ。

“No-go” is a bit harsh, isn’t it lol

ダメはなかなか辛辣じゃないか笑

His health checkup numbers must be scary 🤨

健康診断の数値ヤバいやろな🤨

Right, at this point he’s only gone from “just a fat guy” to “a fat guy who can move.” He still has to show the kids he’ll keep his man-to-man promise with Kansha-san!

確かに、今の段階では「ただのデブ」から「動けるデブ」に評価が改められただけだから、子供たちに看舎さんとの男の約束を守るところを見せないとね！

The client is Iwahashi from Plus-Minus and the rival is the one with the glasses from Igo Shogi. Picture those two fighting and of course Iwahashi doesn’t stand a chance…w (Iwahashi is a comedian from the duo Plus-Minus; Igo Shogi is another comedy duo.)

依頼書がプラスマイナスの岩橋でライバルが囲碁将棋のメガネの方このふたりが闘ってると思ったらそりゃ岩橋に勝ち目ないわなと....w

I laughed, but I can’t laugh at this dad one bit…

笑ってしまったけど、俺は何一つこのお父さんのこと笑えねえ…

Tsukaji and Tsune from 2700 forming a comedy duo!? 😂 (Both are comedians, Tsukaji of Drunk Dragon and Tsune of 2700, and the commenter is casting the client and his rival as a comedy duo.)

塚地と2700のつねのコント結成！？😂

Nikken gear is heavy and restricts your movement, so it drains your stamina for no reason, and it’s way tougher than it looks. Even I, who did MMA, got weirdly exhausted when I joined a guest practice before I was used to it. (Nikken is the nickname for Nippon Kempo.)

日拳は防具重いし動きにくいしで無駄にスタミナ持ってかれるから見た目よりかなりキツイぞＭＭＡやってた俺ですら慣れてない時は出稽古参加した時なんか異常に疲れたしな

Thumbnail looks like Joshima Ryuhei.

サムネ上島竜兵

I’m Team Hongkong. (Ryuhei Joshima and Hongkong are both comedians, and the thread is a game of who the thumbnail looks like.)

俺はほんこん派

I’ve never seen anyone but the Self-Defense Forces do Nippon Kempo.

日本拳法って自衛隊くらいしかやってるの見たことない

As someone who does Nikken, I’d say watch out for brain damage 😅

ニッケンやってる身から言わせてもらうと、脳のダメージ気をつけて😅

Even if he’d won, all he’d get back is his self-respect, and I don’t think the family would suddenly go “Dad’s amazing!” The people close to you value the effort you put in every day, not a one-shot comeback from someone who let himself go. The dad’s real test is the 20 kg weight-loss challenge from here on. Good luck!

もし勝ててたとしても、取り戻せるのは自尊心だけで家族の「お父さん凄〜い」にはならないと思う身近な人は怠惰な人の1発逆転ではなく日々真剣に取り組む姿の方を評価するお父さんの真価はこれからの20kg減量チャレンジでこそ問われる頑張ってください！

It’s sad that you can tell his friend is holding back.

友人が手を抜いてるのが分かるのが悲しいな

Admirable that he wants to make a comeback. But dignity isn’t something you take back. It’s something the people around you just come to feel. I really hope he does well.

再起しようとする姿勢は素晴らしいけど威厳は取り戻すもんじゃないです周りが勝手に思うことですよ本当に頑張ってほしいです

Way too big a weight class gap lol

階級差ありすぎ笑

Nippon Kempo is open weight only, you know.

日本拳法は無差別しかないで

My take

He may have put on weight, but he's still solidly built, and as a former practitioner he isn't moving badly at all. Lose the weight and I think his kids might just come around.

#Heartwarming #Culture #Parenting

Source & translation note

Comments loosely translated for tone. Reactions collected from Togetter and X threads.

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