Cobra Kai Just Introduced a Mr. Miyagi Mystery That Could Recontextualize Karate Kid

This article contains spoilers for Cobra Kai season 6 part 1.

The latest batch of Cobra Kai episodes is sure to have Mr. Miyagi fans screaming, “What’s in the box?!” Thankfully, it’s not some sinister body part, but Part 1 of the final season of the karate-crammed Cobra Kai does raise myriad questions about Daniel-san’s dearly departed sensei. 

As Daniel (Ralph Macchio) and Amanda (Courtney Healy Henggeler) prepare a room in Miyagi’s dojo for their long-term houseguest Chozen (Yuji Okumoto), they find a secret hatch in the floor. Below, beneath a blanket of cobwebs, is a large wooden box. As Daniel expresses reservations about opening it, Chozen and Amanda stand at his shoulders like a little angel and devil, bidding him to make two different decisions. Chozen thinks the past should stay in the past, while Amanda desperately wants to know what’s inside. Daniel’s curiosity gets the best of him, and he cracks the box open. 

Inside, there’s a collection of what seem to be random things. There are a few scroll-like items that initially look like joints but, sadly, are not. There are also some Chinese coins, a pair of boxing gloves, and a newspaper article about a violent assault and robbery. The victim claimed that he was attacked by one Keisuke Miyagi. Curious. Coincidentally, there’s also a passport with the name Keisuke Miyagi. Daniel pushes back on the idea that Keisuke is actually his Mr. Miyagi, especially because the birth date on the passport doesn’t match. (We’ll get back to that name issue in a hot minute.)

Daniel and Chozen decide to check out the address on the passport, and they find a boxing gym. A scraggly looking guy (Tony Cavalero) sees two relatively well-dressed guys seeking out information, and he bolts. They catch up to him, and he divulges a small bit of new intel: Mr. Miyagi was a silent partner in the boxing gym with scraggly guy’s grandfather. The guy says that his grandfather always spoke highly of Mr. Miyagi, but that he also told him that he had to flee America at one point in time. This is a curious new bit of information that Daniel didn’t know.

From the entire Karate-Kid canon, viewers have mostly seen Mr. Miyagi as a kind, thoughtful, non-violent man or, as Amanda says when they find the box, he’s viewed as “possibly the greatest man who ever lived.” So this new information — that Mr. Miyagi might have perpetrated a violent assault and robbery — is at odds with the vast amount of information that’s been presented throughout four films (Karate Kid 1-3, The Next Karate Kid) and in the memories of those who knew, respected, and loved him throughout Cobra Kai. But desperate men are capable of anything.

In considering this new information, it might be important to focus on the year the newspaper article was written — 1947. Mr. Miyagi fought bravely and with honor for the United States in the war while his pregnant wife was stuck in a horrific Japanese-American internment camp. While on the front lines of battle in late 1944, he found out that both his wife and child had died in childbirth. He recounts this story to a distressed Daniel in the first film, insinuating that if there had been doctors to help his wife, then his family would have survived. Instead, the country he fought for gave him only devastation in return. 

The years after Mr. Miyagi returned home from the war are a mystery. There’s a large, three-decade gap between the end of the war and when he first meets Daniel. Really, anything could have happened during that time. And a man who has lost everything has nothing to lose. Violence certainly could have been his way of coping. And who could blame him? Perhaps he needed to exorcise some demons before finding his way to a path of enlightenment. 

Two other curious issues arise with the discovery of the box. As mentioned before, Daniel is convinced that Mr. Miyagi wouldn’t have gone by the name “Keisuke.” However, there is much debate about Miyagi-san’s real name in the world of The Karate Kid. The Next Karate Kid has him going by both Hideo and Keisuke, while many other entries in the canon have him going by Nariyoshi. The official Wikipedia page for the character has his name listed as Nariyoshi Keisuke Miyagi, so it’s very possible — if not probable — that the man in the passport document and article is also Mr. Miyagi himself. 

Last but not least, in the final moments of Part 1, Daniel notices that the logo for the captain’s headband for the Sekai Taikai looks familiar. He runs back to the box and unearths an identical headband, only this one is coated in blood. Daniel is shocked that his mentor and guiding light could possibly be capable of violence that resulted in bloodshed. 

Given that Mr. Miyagi was such a loveable and larger-than-life character, it makes sense that Cobra Kai would want to bring Mr. Miyagi back into the fold in such a tangible way in the final season. The mysteries of the “box” seem geared to reconcile the oft-clashing ideologies of Daniel LaRusso and Johhny Lawrence, respectively. Daniel always looks for the path of balance and understanding, while Johhny often operates on a more visceral and immediate level. But what if there was a bit of Johnny in Mr. Miyagi all along? And what if that part of him was what led to the balance that made his relationship with Daniel possible? 

There are many questions, but Daniel might do well to remember his mentor’s immortal words: “It is okay to lose to opponent. Must not lose to fear.” The idea that Daniel didn’t know his surrogate father as well as he thought he did is clearly terrifying to him. Let’s hope that it doesn’t knock him off his game as he approaches the final battle of his karate career. 

All five episodes of Cobra Kai season 6 part 1 are available to stream on Netflix now. Part 2 premieres Nov. 15.