Meiko Kaji

Meiko Kaji on the Lady Snowblood DVD cover

Meiko Kaji (梶芽衣子 Kaji Meiko) (born 24 March 1947 in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan) is a Japanese singer and actress.

With little success but extensive experience in the movie business, in 1970 she signed up with Nikkatsu to subsequently be in more or less important roles in the Alleycat (or Stray Cat) Rock series. The films concern juvenile girl gangs confronting each other for various reasons, and although inventive, they suffer from poor scripts and rickety quality throughout the series. In 1971 Nikkatsu started moving into the financially lucrative erotic movie business, for which it is best known today, terming its unique brand of softcore "Roman Porno". In hopes of avoiding becoming a pinku eiga starlet, Kaji moved to Toei where she met director Shunya Ito and made four women in prison films in the Sasori (lit. scorpion) series, which made her famous throughout Japan. The films were adapted from a well-known manga by Toru Shinohara. In the fourth installment Toei replaced director Shunya Ito with Yasuharu Hasebe, a decision that Kaji was unhappy about, and she subsequently left the series, which continued until 1998 with six new installments of markedly lesser quality.

In 1973 she took on the role of Yuki in the revenge-themed film Lady Snowblood, which has later been popularized as a cult film in the West. It was based on a manga by Kazuo Koike who also created the Crying Freeman and Lone Wolf and Cub manga series. The film was one of the inspirations for Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill films. It was followed by the sequel, Lady Snowblood 2: Love Song of Vengeance.

Kaji went on to appear in several of Kinji Fukasaku's films, most notably Yakuza Graveyard (1976).

Her singing career was heavily interweaved with her movie career, often singing on the soundtracks of films she starred in. Owing to this, she has seen a surge of renewed interest with the releases of Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2 and their soundtracks. The theme song to Lady Snowblood, "Flower of Carnage" (Shura no Hana), and the theme song of the Sasori series, "Urami Bushi" (lit. Grudge Song), both sung by Kaji, were used in Tarantino's film.

Select filmography

Stray Cat Rock series
- Female Juvenile Delinquent Leader: Stray Cat Rock (1970) (Onna banchô: Nora-neko rokku) (d. Yasuharu Hasebe)
- Stray Cat Rock : Wild Jumbo (1970) (Nora-neko rokku: Wairudo janbo) (d. Toshiya Fujita)
- Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter (1970) (Nora-neko rokku: Sekkusu hanta) (d. Yasuharu Hasebe)
- Stray Cat Rock: Machine Animal (1970) (Nora-neko rokku: Mashin animaru) (d. Yasuharu Hasebe)
- Stray Cat Rock: Crazy Rider '71 (1971) (Nora-neko rokku: Bōsō shudan '71) (d. Toshiya Fujita)
Sasori series
- Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion (1972) (Joshuu 701-gō: Sasori) (d. Shunya Ito)
- Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41(1972) (Joshuu sasori: Dai-41 zakkyo-bō) (d. Shunya Ito)
- Female Prisoner Scorpion: Beast Stable (1973) (Joshuu sasori: Kemono-beya) (d. Shunya Ito)
- Female Prisoner Scorpion: #701's Grudge Song (1973) (Joshuu sasori: 701-gō urami-bushi) (d. Yasuharu Hasebe)
Lady Snowblood (1973) (Shurayukihime) (d. Toshiya Fujita)
The Yakuza Papers, Vol. 2: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima (1973) (Jingi naki tatakai: Hiroshima shito hen) (d. Kinji Fukasaku)
Lady Snowblood 2: Love Song of Vengeance (1974) (Shurayukihime: Urami Renga) (d. Toshiya Fujita)
Yakuza Graveyard (1976) (Yakuza no hakaba: Kuchinashi no hana) (d. Kinji Fukasaku)
Lullaby of the Earth (1976) (Daichi no komoriuta) (d. Yasuzo Masumura)

External links