More Antonio Inoki ‘Toukon’ slap-age
By Hoyt June 4th, 2009Here’s a fun clip of Inoki giving the ‘toukon‘ slap to a kid at a school he’s visiting. Inoki asked the boys to take their shot and the second kid shows some good form. Inoki delivers the slap much for the same reason that he did to Machida: as a show of respect and to encourage the development of even greater ‘fighting spirit’ in the future. Some incorrectly suggest that this is where the ‘toukon‘ tradition started but it goes way back in Japanese fight culture. It’s definitely a sumo tradition and may date back into the Samurai culture of feudal Japan. This clip did get a lot of media coverage in Japan and really made the ‘toukon‘ slap synonymous with Inoki:
