Is it historically true that Ip Man beat a Japanese General in a martial-art match?

Question

In the film Ip Man (2008), Ip Man fights Japanese Army general Miura in a martial arts match and beats him.

Is that incident historically true?

If not, what was the real incident?

Answer 1

There is no doubt that the history of YIP man is very different than what is shown in the movie IP Man. The film loosely portrays his life. There are lots of historical inaccuracies in the movie. For instance the duel that you asked about, Wiki states it never happened.

Another movie review also seconds this fact:

After witnessing repeated Japanese brutality, Man decides that he will seek revenge by fighting in Japanese General Miura’s martial arts dojo – where the General is trying to prove the supremacy of Japanese martial arts over Chinese. As Ip Man tries to rebuild his life, the General seeks him out for a final showdown.

Historically, it’s mostly fairytale, but the heart pounding patriotism and simple tale of good vs evil makes for a fantastic film.

Answer 2

This review says no.

While, during the war, Ip Man did indeed refuse to teach his martial arts to the military police of the occupying Japanese - a decision which eventually forced him to flee Foshan - he certainly never had, let alone won, a duel with a Japanese general (played in the film by Hiroyuki Ikeuchi).

They do not cite a source for that statement, however.

Answer 3

Actually, the real Yip Man from the movies said that the accuracy of the first film is almost completely true. He in fact did fight a General Miura in a small tournament, was in fact shot and as proof he became an Opium addict because he has used Opium to help ease the pain of his gun shot wound during that time but eventually became an addict of it. However, I don't know how accurate the second film was, he did fight a western boxer from Britain as in the 1950's until around 1953-54ish after the American and Korean War Britain's occupancy over China ended. Though Yip Man actually stated that most of the first film was indeed accurate he said only about 1/3 to 1/2 of the second film was. They didn't portray his Opium addiction, the fight with the western boxer was actually more brutal than what was portrayed AND the boxer was racist but not that rude of a guy like in the film. They just made him more menacing that way to make him more villainous in the film.