#junko fuji

[jailhouse41]

Junko Fuji (富司純子) on the cover of Utsukushii Kimono (美しいキモノ), Autumn 1981.

Scanned by me.

[illustraction]

GAMBLER - BAKUTO (1964-1971) - GUNS SWORDS AND TATTOOS: YAKUZA FILM SERIES (Part 4/10)

KOJI TSURUTA is one the first TOEI leading male yakuza movie star, mainly always embodying the noble hearted Oyabun (Yakuza Boss) He led the10 movie series Gambler (Bakuto) between 1963 and 1971 along the usual co-stars (Takakura, Wakayama and Junko Fuji).

Most of the posters of the series in various forms have been included above (Please click on each image for details)

Director: Shigehiro Ozawa, Kinji Fukasaku Actors: Junko Fuji, Ken Takakura, Koji Tsuruta, Tomisaburo Wakayama

ALL OUR YAKUZA MOVIE POSTERS ARE HERE

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The posters above courtesy of ILLUSTRACTION GALLERY

[japanfilmclub]

Red Peony Gambler (1968) 『 緋牡丹博徒 』 Written by Norifumi Suzuki 鈴木 則文 Directed by Kōsaku Yamashita 山下 耕作

[gokaiju]

The Valiant Red Peony 1-3 (Kosaku Yamashita, 1968, Norifumi Suzuki, 1968 and Tai Kato, 1969) | Cover for Blu-ray boxset by Eureka Entertainment | Made in 2024 by Gokaiju

[basedkikuenjoyer]

Moe Violence: or How I Struck the Jidaigeki Goldmine

I lost a close friend recently. A really close one and it was the kind of sudden bolt from the blue that’s really just fate waking up and deciding to kick you in the teeth. He liked old Western movies and was enough of a film buff to know how much back-and-forth there was with samurai cinema. So we had a lot of fun talking about movies. Made me want to finally get through a stack of films I’ve dug up on archive.org. Liking what I like, I think this binge has helped get a lot of clarity on where we started with looking at Lady Snowblood & Red Swallow Oyuki. (Oh...by the way. I plum forgot Snowblood’s auntie/confidant type figure was named Okiku. Always has a basket of yellow mums outside her door)

Started with checking out a trio of films the absolutely wonderful Junko Miyazono did after Red Swallow. Series is called Tales of the Poison Seductress; Hannya Ohyaku, Quick-Draw Okatsu, & Okatsu the Fugitive. They’re all standalone, caution though they’re very violent. SA is a factor too but from what I’ve seen most of the scenes may drag but try to keep it not too graphic. I say that as someone pretty turned off but “losing her virtue” is a threat hanging around frequently in these and there’s a torture element. This is 60s/70s Japanese Grindhouse cinema, the type of thing that inspired gory directors like Quentin Tarantino. It ain’t for everyone and that’s why I wanna gush about it here. What I’m getting more and more though is that pinning our beloved Okiku to one jidaigeki reference is a fool’s errand. My dears, she’s an ode to an entire subgenre!

Let’s not split hairs over the specific category of Toei films and slightly different ones with a female lead. The term I see used is “Pinky Violence.” Pinky coming from having female leads and being very sexually charged affairs. Toei needed to do something to compete with more Western movies making it over, so they opted for shock value and the way they went for it ended up giving us a pretty feminist genre. Not to say these were all jidaigeki which means “period drama.” There were a lot of modern ones I have yet to dive into heavily. Before Lady Snowblood Meiko Kaji gave us a really fun looking 6-part series called Stray Cat Rock for a great example. Machine guns, motorcycles, and LSD. They look awesome and check this aesthetic! I’m in love.

That knowledge does make me think of Nami and the early design with a missing arm. Jojo’s Stone Ocean as well while we’re at it. There’s also a fair number of Yakuza movies that fall sorta in between like the Red Peony Gambler (Hibotan Bakuto) series. It’s all a little nebulous if you want to get into the weeds. There’s a few different styles from a few different studios but make no mistake. These were popular movies in Japan. Big studios like Toei were churning them out as B movies to maintain relevance. Compete with television and Hollywood’s resources.  

Know what isn’t nebulous? Yeah...the hallmarks of the genre are big things we see out of Okiku’s role in Wano. The otherwise perfect lady with some little hook that means she isn’t “marriage material.” The whole arc of showing she can kick as much ass as any man but always reminding you of the lady playing the part. A big, big shared element is this core theme of taking down corrupt officials who abuse their power. Urashima the Yokozuna is exactly the type of guy who’d end up a villain in these. Sticking up for humble villagers, looking out for other women and children. Being the collateral damage of “great” men’s ambitions is what we tend to see over traditional fare like say, reinstalling a dynasty. I love the running theme of these being so much more local in scope. And Kiku gets that modern twist of her being trans for the “excuse.” I adore that in contrast to anime trends of needing to make an excuse for the deviance. My dead sister was the favorite, I went silly due to trauma, etc. This trope and trend of subversion is a big reason I love the mistaken bride idea. 

The more of these I see, and I’m friggin hooked these days, the more I see little bits and bobs that feel like they may have shaped our beautiful flower of Wano. And others! She’s a little more than a simple homage though. We do see the violence part pretty well for One Piece. Kiku gets the shit beaten out of her on Onigashima and it is gory by this manga’s standards. That’s where the modernization seems to be though. We tone down the sexuality for cute. Which isn’t that off base, the archetype in historical settings typically does have that innocent and sweet side. One Piece just isn’t the type of series you’re going to actually see things like making good on Tama’s intro of fleeing from being sold to the red light district. Even if it didn’t make it in the proper story, Kiku & Izo’s origin does flirt with that kind of content more than the series usually would. Hell, we do get Holdem torturing Tama and the series just fades to black on a similar spot for Tsuru. 

Wano made this genre feel familiar already. Snowblood loves it some anachronic storytelling, Red Peony sets up and ends films with a non-diagetic theatrical framing. Ohyaku uses a big simpleton to bust out of a prison camp. Speaking of, can I please get someone whipping a hair stick like a dart? That’s my favorite little signature from the Red Peony. Oryu in those is a fun protagonist played by Junko Fuji. That’s one of the more accessible series, less graphic than One Piece so far, and she plays with gender as a theme more. Proclaims to be a man but we always see deep down she’s still a lady that wishes she could have married the honest merchant’s son. Oh...and almost all of these ladies are total daddy’s girls like Kiku acts towards Kin. That whole series gets its own because there’s eight of them and they’re soooo good. 

Eiichiro Oda is a great writer and worldbuilder...but he’s actually pretty derivative. One Piece doesn’t break ground as much as refine the dominant genre when it started, even Rurouni Kenshin was more subversive for shonen. The more I see of these though, the more I see Oda just being this big kid who thought these old movies were so cool and couldn’t wait to rip into his samurai gang. Of course one of em if gonna be a little Junko Miyazono/Meiko Kaji being a fierce strong-willed lady of war. These movies are classic cool!

[caycecayce]

Made a new song and music video

[nuisancehelicopter]

THE FLAG

Duet for the First Time in 20 Years! Ryoma Echizen (VA: Minagawa Junko and Fuji Syusuke (VA: Kaida Yuki)

[fuckyeahmeikokaji]

Bad Sorts (わるいやつら), 1980, directed by Yoshitaro Nomura (野村芳太郎) and starring, from left to right:

Meiko Kaji (梶芽衣子) Ai Kanzake (神崎愛) Keiko Matsuzaka (松坂慶子) Mariko Fuji (藤真利子) Junko Miyashita (宮下順子)  

[genkinahito]

Let Him Rest in Peace 友よ、静かに瞑れ (1985) Director: Yoichi Sai

[cinemajunkie70]

[thekimonogallery]

Junko Fuji

[illustraction]

RED PEONY GAMBLER - HIBOTAN BAKUTO (1968-1972) - GUNS SWORDS AND TATTOOS: YAKUZA FILMS SERIES (Part 2/10)

One of TOEI most successful series with 8 films starring once again their lead female star, JUNKO (Sumiko) FUJI as Oryu the beuatiful gambler along TOEI's BIG FOUR (Takakura, Tsuruta, Sugawara and Wakayama).

Most of the posters of the series in various forms have been included above (Please click on each image for details)

Director: Kosaku Yamashita, Shigehiro Ozawa, Tai Kato Actors: Junko Fuji, Ken Takakura, Koji Tsuruta, Bunta Sugawara, Tomisaburo Wakayama

ALL OUR YAKUZA MOVIE POSTERS ARE HERE

If you like this entry, check the other 9 parts of this week’s Blog as well as our Blog Archives

All our NEW POSTERS are here All our ON SALE posters are here

The posters above courtesy of ILLUSTRACTION GALLERY

[hibiscuswolverine]

Thinking about got makoto being a living god. Ooo the other protagonists are too. Kaede and shuichi being the smallest (I NEED YOU to think in GIANT sizes) at maybe mt Fuji size, komaru being in like mt McKinley and Hajime being in between the mt Kilimanjaro and mt Aconcagua perhaps? Makoto can hold earth in palm at his full size on earth though think Mount Everest size (junko is here too! Shes the Same size) His guards are Kyoko and byakuya obv they stand the height of mt Aconcagua.

Izuru is in this he’s the illegal little mini demi god hajime created because he wanted extra offerings. So he’s like in between high level (around 6000m) clouds and mid level clouds (around 2000m+). But I need you to understand he also this height so he his holdable in makoto’s hands do understand?

[itsatru]

was tagged by the lovely @hostilefemme to pick 10 songs with names in the title:

Lucretius - Sun Araw

Judas - Depeche Mode

La Rosa - Junko Ohashi

Peggy's Blue Skylight - Charles Mingus

Dinner with Delores - Prince

Shaneera - Fatima Al Qadiri

Squidward Nose - CupcakKe

Byebye Billy - Iseo

Jason & the Czargonauts - Czarface+MF Doom+Del the Funky Homosapien

Sayonara...... Fuji-san - Masayoshi Takanaka

tagging anyone who wants to do it - wanna hear more tunes!!

[basedkikuenjoyer]

I've been wanting to show these a little love, but not dwelling too long on each one. This is the poster for the the first Hibotan Bakuto movie. The Red Peony Gambler, sometimes called the Valiant Red Peony in Western releases. It's an 8-part series following the exploits of Ryuko Yano, the lady Yakuza. The movies came out over a span of 1968-1972. Eight movies in four years, far out. Not the biggest budget productions, but that didn't stop them from being popular. Your star here makes them. Junko Fuji is an absolute treasure and she makes Oryu feel so real. The epitome of "silk hiding steel."

The more I watch of these the more I feel they are one of the Jidaigeki references that trickled down into fairest Okiku, we've talked at length about that. She's a pastiche of this entire subgenre of female-led historical dramas. Polite & proper ladies denied their chance for a happy, normal domestic life taking matters into their own hands and protecting the weak. Seeing a pretty lady kick ass was new territory in the late 60s.

All told, you're not getting much more than Oryu's origins. How her plan for life fell apart and how she started to be the wandering gambler. It's a good standalone if you want to watch just one, but that means it lacks the unique feel the rest have. This one is probably the most graphic actually, still not as bad as counterparts like Tales of the Poison Seductress. The first two are the ones you can't skip if you care about the series though.

[ford39years]

Kenichi Sakuragi dies under a signboard of Junko Fuji. It is the very favorite scene. The Final Episode of the Battle Without Honnor and Humanity.