Meiko Kaji

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Meiko Kaji ( jap. 梶芽衣子 , civic Masako Ōta ( 太田雅子 , Ōta Masako ); * 24. March 1947 in Chiyoda , Tokyo ) is a Japanese Enka - singer and actress who in the 1970s alongside Miki Sugimoto and Etsuko Shihomi to the most famous Japanese exploitation actresses.

Life

Meiko Kaji started her film career in the mid-1960s with smaller roles in productions in the Nikkatsu studios, at that time still under her real name Masako Ōta. For the gangster film The Clean Up , released in 1969 , she first chose the pseudonym Meiko Kaji. Her breakthrough came in 1970 when she was selected to star in the five-part film series Alley Cat Rock and played the leader of a gang of female delinquents. After the Nikkatsu studio, in view of falling income and the threat of bankruptcy , decided to switch over to film production and increasingly focus on lucrative sex films , so-called Pink Eiga , Kaji left the studio and switched to the renowned Tōei studios in 1971 .

Meiko Kaji had an initial success in Shun'ya Itō's directorial debut Sasori - Scorpion , the start of a six-part series in which she embodied the main role in the first four parts. Kaji only had nude scenes in the first part of the Sasori series, the rest of the genre-typical shots are mainly from other actresses. After her departure, the film series based on the manga by Tōru Shinohara with Yumi Takigawa was continued, but could no longer build on the success of the previous parts. The role of the silent avenger Nami "Matsu" Matsushima made her famous all over Japan and made her one of the stars of Japanese exploitation cinema and one of the most important pinky violence actresses.

In 1973 the actress took on the lead role in the manga film adaptation of Lady Snowblood , directed by Toshiya Fujita , with whom she previously made several Stray Cat Rock films. The poetic-nihilistic portrait of a woman seeking revenge on the murderers of her family is based on the manga of the same name by Kazuo Koike . After the sequel, Lady Snowblood 2: Love Song of Vengeance , shot in 1974 , several films with director Kinji Fukasaku followed until Kaji ended her almost ten-year career in 1978.

Since then she has only appeared occasionally in television productions. Apart from acting, she is also popular as a singer of Japanese hits .

Filmography (selection)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ cf. Chris Desjardins in Outlaw Masters of Japanese Film. P. 59
personal data
SURNAME Kaji, Meiko
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 梶 芽 衣 子 (Japanese); Ōta Masako (real name); 太 田 雅子 (Japanese, real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Japanese actress and enka singer
DATE OF BIRTH March 24, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH Chiyoda , Tokyo , Japan