History vs Fiction of Karate in Cobra Kai!
The good news is, the Crane Kick Daniel used against Johnny is real, with its roots tracing back to Ancient China, where Miyagi’s ancestor went to learn.
And the old photo of Miyagi’s ancestor that was shown in the dojo is a real life Sensei, Miyagi Chojun. The bad news is that most of the karate techniques used by Miyagi-Do in the film is not that of Miyagi Chojun (Goju Ryu teachings) but another real life Sensei, Mabuni Kenwa (Shito Ryu teachings), who actually helped in the development of the Karate Kid series in real life.
Personally, I watch Cobra Kai because of nostalgia of having watched the Karate Kid as a child. So I treat it as pure entertainment that's not to be taken seriously. But I do understand the producer's intentions in trying to add some realism to it here and there, such as jumbling up all the different teachings into one Okinawan Karate for simplicity, just like the film The Last Samurai which oversimplify the actual history of the Meiji Restoration. After all, it's a just a film, not a documentary. 😂 But its great that it caused a lot of curiosity from the audience into finding out more about the actual history of karate. 🤗
