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Street Fighter, Ryu & The Real Hadouken

How a boyhood arcade obsession ended with Ryu in my dojo.

Jason Ramsay

3 min read4 hours ago

Press enter or click to view image in full size The cast of Super Street Fighter II. (Credit: Capcom).

I’m watching the new Street Fighter film. Ryu sits in seiza (kneeling), his back to the audience.

He shifts to the balls of his feet, places his right leg in front, then his left. A big smile breaks across my face.

Not because I was an avid arcade player growing up (and still am) . It was something else. Well, two things, actually.

First, I know this is the correct way to rise from seiza. It’s a throwback to the samurai, ready to draw the sword.

Second, the actor playing Ryu walked into my dojo over a year ago to prepare for this very movie! Hell, I’d even written an article about Ryu’s fireball, the Hadouken , before anyone knew who’d play him.

Anyway, back to the action.

Ryu turns to face his rival Ken.…