April 11th Is Guts Pose Day! The Day Video Game Victory Dances Were Invented (Or at Least Coined...)

Channel:

GTV Japan

Subscribers:

57,000

Published on April 7, 2023 2:00:13 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I02u8Br0yhs

Game:

GUTS (2017)

Duration: 5:00

3,446 views

385

Learn all about the Guts Pose and the man behind it! (More Below!)

Episode information
GTV 33 "Guts Pose!" Season 2 Episode 12
Original Airdate: September 19, 2017
Produced September 12-15, 2017
Remastered Version Produced February 27-28, 2023
Recorded at Butsudan Studios and edited on my 14” MacBook M1 Pro! Edited and produced with Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, and Topaz AI. All paid for with Gainful Employment™

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Partial Transcript

Have you ever played Street Fighter II, Megaman, or Final Fantasy? All these games have the characters doing weird little movements in the game. And it's not just these, there’re a lot of games old and new that are full of these strange little actions.

When you play video games for most of your life, you tend to notice things. You start to see patterns, things kind of imitate each other, or look the same. It's not quite copying, more like emanating from the same origin point.


All these games reference one singular point in time. An event that happened on April 11th, 1974. That was the day, this action, called the Guts Pose was invented. If you think I'm crazy, just sit back and let me explain the whole thing.

The term “Guts Pose” is attributed to a professional boxer named Yuji Suzuki, known in-ring as Guts Ishimatsu, earning the moniker from being such a gutsy fighter. The term “guts,” referencing ability or fortitude was not well known in Japan at the time.

The earliest use of the term is found a publication known as Weekly Guts Bowling, which was in print around the time that Yuji Suzuki took the name Guts Ishimatsu. Did he steal his name from this magazine? He's never admitted it. One issue, dated November 30th, 1972 highlights different stances bowlers would take after scoring a strike. The term Guts Pose was used to describe it. Beyond the small circulation this magazine had, the term was unheard of. However, Guts Ishimatsu and his in ring style was becoming well known around the world.

Overall, his career win loss record wasn't so great. By 1974 he stood at 26 wins with 14 by KO, 11 losses and 6 draws. Despite the less than perfect record, Guts was able to secure a title match for the WBC Lightweight championship against then champion Rodalfo Gato Gonzales, the heavy favorite who had over 50 wins on his record. In the 8th round Guts was able to knock out Gonzales and take the title. The win was such an upset, that Guts, his crew and his family started celebrating as fans stormed the ring! In this middle of all the excitement, Guts, made a strange motion with his hands to celebrate the victory. In his post fight interview, he said that the movement in his right hand shows his own joy of winning a fight, while the left hand shows his gratitude to the audience. A newspaper photographer captured the action, affixing the name “Guts Pose” to the caption.

This boxing match, held in Japan, and won in a dramatic fashion by a Japanese fighter, made headlines across the nation. Guts Ishimatsu become somewhat of a national hero, while the term “Guts Pose” became a household word.

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