Fisherman uses karate skills to see off bear after Revenant-style mauling

A fisherman who came face-to-face with a snarling bear frightened away the beast with his karate skills. Atsushi Aoki was bitten and scratched repeatedly, including on his head, when he ran into the 6ft (1.9m) creature in the mountains of Japan. But the 63-year-old assumed a fighting stance with his right fist in front of him and jabbed at the bear’s eyes, which sent it scrambling away into the woods. “I thought it’s either ‘I kill him or he kills me,’” Mr Aoki told public broadcaster NHK.

The bear was so strong, and it knocked me down

Bear attack survivor Atsushi Aoki

Mr Aoki was fishing in a mountain river when he was attacked by the Asian black bear, in a scene reminiscent of Leonardo DiCaprio’s epic tussle with an angry bear in the Oscar-winning film The Revenant. “It turned me over and bit me right here,” he said, pointing to his bandaged leg. After scaring the animal away he managed to scramble back to his car and drive to a hospital in Gunma, despite the injuries to his head, arm and leg. However, authorities are warning others not to adopt the same approach – earlier this year four people were killed in separate bear attacks.

He drove himself to hospital, and he even remembered to grab the fish that he had caught

Japanese police officer

bear