History Main / RivalDojos

See also FeudingFamilies, EnemyMine and FireForgedFriends.

[[folder: Film ]]

* ''Film/FistOfLegend'' has the local kung fu school as rivals of the karate dojo of the occupying Japanese. The Chinese are the heroes and the Japanese are the villains, though the most powerful Japanese master is unaffiliated with the local dojo and stands neutral in the feud.

* Within the Gracie clan of Brazilian jiu-jitsu schools, Hélio and Carlson Gracie's schools were rivals due to their different approaches to grappling, while another branch of BJJ led by Oswaldo Fadda was against the Gracie doctrine overall. Fadda got his black belt through Luiz França, and trained with the poorer folk in the outskirts of Rio while the Gracies focused in the richer strata. In a famous challenge between both schools in 1955 and 1956 resulted in victory in the majority of Fadda's students through leglocks, which were seen as "cheating" and "suburban" by Gracie's students. Although later the relationship between both academies would turn into a FriendlyRivalry, leading to the founding of the Jiu-Jitsu Federation of Guanabara in 1968 by both the Faddas and the Gracies.
* {{Invoked}} by defunct UsefulNotes/MixedMartialArts promotion International Fight League (IFL), created to rival the {{UsefulNotes/UFC}}. In order to differentiate from their competitor, each IFL card was a showdown between two MMA dojos of at least three fighters, each fighter fighting one match against another in the opposing dojos. The promoters were hoping this would create great rivalries but sadly the IFL went under very soon.

[[quoteright:350:[[Series/CobraKai https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cobrakaiseasons1and2dvd.jpg]]]]

A pair of rival schools of martial arts, run by a pair of masters who have probably been feuding for years before the series even started. If ''dojo'' is applied to non-Japanese martial arts, its use is an example of the FarEast trope.

A subset of this trope comes in the form of members of one school (or even an [[ArrogantKungFuGuy unaffiliated challenger looking to show his prowess]]) going to the other dojo and challenging the sensei or top student to a match, usually as an excuse to then completely ransack the dojo, maim everyone inside, and steal a memento of their victory (typically the dojo's marquee). This kind of act, whose exact term is ''dojoyaburi'' (道場破り, "dojo storming"), is TruthInTelevision, and there are stories about brutal dojo wars in historic Japan and more recently in the [[UsefulNotes/MixedMartialArts Brazilian vale tudo]] scene.

* While ''Miyagi-do'' wasn't really a dojo in the original films of ''Film/TheKarateKid'', instead being a single master and disciple, the sequel series ''Series/CobraKai'' plays this trope straight, as original trilogy protagonist Daniel [=LaRusso=] opens a formal ''Miyagi-do'' dojo specifically to counteract the rise of the revived Cobra Kai, which he considers too dangerous to ignore. This is shown to be a misguided error on Daniel's part, as despite the best efforts of both him and Cobra Kai sensei Johnny Lawrence, the rivalry escalates into violence, culminating in [[spoiler:a massive all-out brawl that rips the local high school apart, hospitalising both Daniel's daughter and Johnny's prize pupil, the latter with a broken spine]].

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' did an episode about a pair of rival Gyms. Each of them tried to be official Gyms, but in the end, neither of them were worthy enough to be declared as an official Gym.
** The games also featured this with Saffron City's two Gyms, one for the Fighting-type and one for the Psychic-type. Only one got to be the official Gym of the city, and the Psychic-type Gym won due to ElementalRockPaperScissors.

* In ''Series/NinpuuSentaiHurricaneger'' and ''Series/PowerRangersNinjaStorm'', three Rangers are from the Hayate/Wind Ninja Academy and two are from the Ikazuchi/Thunder Academy. They clashed at first with the Thunder ninjas acting as PsychoRangers to the Wind trio, but eventually pulled together to fight the BigBad.
** Almost the entirety of ''Series/JukenSentaiGekiranger'' is about the battles between the heroic [=GekiJuken=] Beast Arts school and the evil [=RinJuken=] Akugata school. [[spoiler:They wind up joining forces to defeat the Long and his [=GenJuken=] school after Rio discovers he and the rest of the [=RinJuken=] Akugata have been manipulated by Long.]]

* ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'': The current official Gym in Saffron City is dedicated to the Psychic-type under Sabrina. Immediately next door is the Fighting-type dojo, which used to be the sanctioned Gym until Sabrina and her followers crushed it, though they still devote themselves to the practice. And then ''the Player'' comes along and sacks the Fighting-dojo ''a second time'', forcing the Karate King to beg him not to take their emblem, instead offering up one of their prize Pokemon.

* In Brazil, the UsefulNotes/BrazilianJiuJitsu and Luta Livre, a UsefulNotes/CatchWrestling derivate, schools were bitter enemies, as they featured opposite combat philosophies and taught different social demographies (BJJ was the martial art of the high class and Brazilian elite, while LL dojos were cheaper and friendlier to lower classes and poor people). Eventually Brazilian jiu-jitsu side, led by the ubiquitous Gracie family, got the upper hand and expanded internationally via the UsefulNotes/UltimateFightingChampionship, while luta livre became a shadow of itself and almost faded out.

* {{Invoked}} by defunct UsefulNotes/MixedMartialArts promotion International Fight League (IFL), created to rival the {{UFC}}. In order to differentiate from their competitor, each IFL card was a showdown between two MMA dojos of at least three fighters, each fighter fighting one match against another in the opposing dojos. The promoters were hoping this would create great rivalries but sadly the IFL went under very soon.

** The two styles get revived after the events of ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' in ''VideoGame/DragonBallOnline'', though the rivalry is more [[FriendlyRival friendly]] in nature since they're headed by Kuririn/Krillin and Tenshinhan. There's still a schism between their philosophies, inspired by what each took away from their time fighting alongside [[TheHero Goku]]: the New Turtle School is all about [[SupportPartyMember playing support]], while the New Crane School focuses on performing powerful, decisive [[KiManipulation ki]] attacks.

* Within the Gracie clan of Brazilian jiu-jitsu schools, Hélio and Carlson Gracie's schools were rivals due to their different approaches to grappling, while another branch of BJJ led by Oswaldo Fadda was against the Gracie doctrine overall.

-->-- ''Series/CobraKai'' '''in a nutshell'''

Very often comes up in FightingSeries. This situation often involves or ends with the main students from both schools eventually becoming friends or at least allies (usually after [[DefeatMeansFriendship one of them defeats the other),]] effectively ending the feud, or turning it into a [[FriendlyEnemy friendly rivalry]] (if it wasn't already) instead.

See also FeudingFamilies and FireForgedFriends.

-->-- ''Series/CobraKai''

* Supported by Miyagi Dojo vs Cobra Kai in ''Film/TheKarateKid1984'' and ''Film/TheKarateKidPartIII''. The rivalry gets revived years later in ''Series/CobraKai'', when Johnny Lawrence revives the titular dojo and Daniel in-turn revives the Miyagi-do. Sadly, [[spoiler: RealityEnsues, and by the end of season 2 the heady mixture of resentment, petty feuds, vandalism and one-upmanship explodes into an outright war, leaving multiple students from both dojos injured, permanently disabled and in one case possibly dead.]]

* While ''Miyagi-do'' wasn't really a dojo in the original films of ''Film/TheKarateKid'', instead being a single master and disciple, in the sequel series ''Series/CobraKai'' original trilogy protagonist Daniel [=LaRusso=] opens a formal ''Miyagi-do'' dojo specifically to counteract the rise of the revived Cobra Kai dojo, which he considers too dangerous to ignore. This is shown to be a misguided error on Daniel's part, as despite the best efforts of both him and Cobra Kai sensei Johnny Lawrence, the rivalry escalates into violence, culminating in [[spoiler:a massive all-out brawl that rips the local high school apart, hospitalising both Daniel's daughter and Johnny's prize pupil, the latter with a broken spine]].

[[folder: Web Original]]

* This is the CentralTheme in the second season of ''Series/CobraKai.'' Miyagi-Do Karate, run by Daniel at his sensei's old home, serves as a counterbalance to Johnny's Cobra Kai dojo. The EscalatingWar eventually turns into a full-scale fight-to-the-finish bloodbath between their respective students.

[[/folder]]

* In Brazil, the UsefulNotes/BrazilianJiuJitsu and luta livre schools were bitter enemies, as they featured opposite combat philosophies and taught different social demographies (BJJ was the martial art of the high class and Brazilian elite, while LL dojos were cheaper and friendlier to lower classes and poor people). Eventually Brazilian jiu-jitsu side, led by the ubiquitous Gracie family, got the upper hand and expanded internationally via the UsefulNotes/UltimateFightingChampionship, while luta livre became a shadow of itself and almost faded out.