Above, an image of Japanese actress Miki Sugimoto, who appeared in such movies as Zeroka no onna: Akai wappa, aka Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs and Sukeban gerira, aka Girl Boss Guerilla, seen here doing, um, we don’t know. She’s sort of making the sign of the horns with her right hand, though, and that was traditionally meant to ward off bad luck. Didn’t work, clearly, since she lost her clothes somewhere. Circa 1973. 

Above, a poster for Noribumi Suzuki’s Ero shogun to nijuichi nin no aisho, aka Lustful Shogun and His 21 Mistresses, aka The Erotic Shogun and His Twenty-One Prostitutes, which starred Tôru Abe, Yasumori Hikita, and also features three of our favorite pinku actresses, Reiko Ike, Yayoi Watanabe, and Miki Sugimoto. We had a bit of a debate here at Pulp HQ as to the actual number of buns 21 women possess. Would it be 21 or 42? The PI girlfriends just rolled their eyes at this question, by the way. But it’s worth exploring. In the strictly physical sense, a bun possesses two halves, right? Thus one woman has one bun, comprised of two halves, each of which might be useful for an open face sandwich, perhaps, but which cannot by itself constitute a whole. Alternatively, when referring to a person’s backside, you might observe that she has nice buns. More to the point, if there were, say, a tattoo there, you might say, “She has a tattoo on her right bun.” Actually, first you might say, “Poor girl. That looks really frickin’ trashy and she has no idea.” But then you’d say she has a tattoo on her right bun. Or left bun, as the case may be. Or saddest of all, across both buns. All of which would seem to imply that 21 women have 42 buns. The PI girlfriends suggested we go with the British term “bum,” which is not in any way ambiguous, but also doesn’t rhyme with “gun,” which was really the whole point. Actually, it technically could rhyme with gun, depending on how loose your interpretation of rhyming is. Certainly, a rapper would agree that bum rhymes with gun, but we don’t rap, so in the end, we went with bun. That is, one woman has one bun. All pretty confusing, truthfully. At this point we’d normally do a quick review, maybe show you some still shots of these 21 mistresses that populate Ero shogun to nijuichi nin no aisho, maybe even mention that it premiered in Japan today in 1972, but after dragging you through the cramped, dark spider hole of our editorial process, the least we can do is show you an/some actual bun/buns. So there’s Reiko’s below. Hooray!

 

Here’s an alternate version of a poster we shared a while ago. It’s for Reiko Ike’s seminal pinku Yasagure anego den: sôkatsu rinchi, aka Female Yakuza Tale. Haven’t seen the movie? It isn’t for everyone, that’s for sure. We tell you a bit about it here. Yasagure anego den premiered in Japan today in 1973. 

Posters for Miki Sugimoto’s 1973 pinku flick Sukeban–Kankain Dasso, aka Girl Boss: Escape from Reform School abound online, but Toei Studios routinely had more multiple versions of their promos and, as far as we can tell, this particular door length sheet has not appeared before. At least, not uncensored. Sugimoto starred in the movie when she was a pinku icon, yet today it is obscure. It has no IMDB entry at all, and has only a filmography listing on both English and Japanese Wikipedia. We saw the movie several years ago and can’t remember it well enough to give a real summary, but the title tells the story. Besides, if you know anything about pinku, then you already know what happens. Sukeban–Kankain Dasso premiered in Japan today in 1973. 

This colorful poster for Masaru Konuma’s sexual drama Nureta tsubo, aka Wet Vase, aka Wet Tattooed Vagina, depicts star Naomi Tani in a tableau taken directly from the movie. In the scene, Tani becomes sexually aroused by watching a man perform oral sex on a mannequin. Tani is ashamed and embarrassed at first, but the guy just keeps at it until she basically collapses in an overstimulated heap. It’s really a beautifully shot scene that by itself is worth the price of renting the flick, in our opinion. Nureta tsubo is part of Nikkatsu’s roman porno stable, but it’s an atypical example—at least, it seems so to us. There are fewer of the extravagances one might expect from a film starring Japan’s Queen of S&M. But that doesn’t mean it’s conservative—on the contrary, it’s plenty kinky. We mentioned that mannequin licking thing, right? See for yourself. We’ve posted some screen grabs from that amazing scene below. Nureta tsubo opened in Japan this month in 1976. 

Above are nine vintage Japanese pinku posters from our large collection, for films featuring that scourge of evil men everywhere—Reiko Ike. These are circa 1971 to 1974, and they are, top to bottom, 1: Sukeban burûsu: Mesubachi no gyakushû, aka Girl Boss Blues: Queen Bee’s Counterattack; 2 & 3: Sukeban: Taiman shobu, aka, Girl Boss: Mano a Mano; 4: Black Leopard M (we don’t know the Japanese title for that one); 5 & 6: Kyôfu joshikôkô: bôkô rinchi kyôshitsu, aka Terrifying Girls’ High School: Lynch Law Classroom; 7: a rare and valuable round poster for Sukeban, aka Girl Boss Revenge; 8: Sukeban gerira, aka Girl Boss Guerilla; 9: Furyo bancho: Norainu kidotai, aka Wolves of the City: Alley Dog Commando.

A quick word about the last one: that is Reiko Ike on the poster, with a machine gun at lower right. We’ve seen this debated on a couple of websites, but there’s no debate—it’s her, beauty mark next to her mouth and all. Besides, her name is on the poster, left column, fifth line. We’ll have more Reiko Ike posters down the line (no, we haven’t run out yet), and we’ll upload promos from other pinku stars as well. To see our entire Reiko Ike collection, click here. Also, we still have some very provocative posters of pinku stars Miki Sugimoto, Naomi Tani, Meg Flower and others that have never appeared online before, as far as we know. We promise we will get those up soon-ish. 

Above is a nice poster for the Japanese actioner Hijirimen bakuto, aka Red Silk Gambler. Set about a hundred years in the past, this one is more of a samurai flick than a typical pinku, but whatever it is, it’s beautifully shot by director Teruo Ishii and cinematographer Shigeru Akatsuka. It stars Hiroko Fuji as the titular gambler, and co-stars Reiichi Hatanaka, Yoko Horikoshi, and the indispensable Reiko Ike. Check the great screen caps we posted below. Hijirimen bakuto premiered in Japan today in 1972. 

Above is a nice panel length poster for 1972’s Sukeban berûsu: mesubachi no chosen, aka Girl Boss Blues: Queen Bee’s Challenge, the second entry in the Girl Boss series made by Toei Studios in the early 1970s. This one stars Reiko Ike (before the tattoo), along with Chiyoko Kazama, and Miki Sugimoto in an appearance just lengthy enough for her to get a couple of bottles of cola sprayed up her ya-ya. If you can wrest your eyes from the constantly recurring tableaux of perfect skin, there is a plot, and it involves a pair of girl gangsters/bitter rivals captured by a yakuza boss and subjected to various sadistic tortures (including that old Japanese favorite—rope bondage, aka kinbaku-bi). Of course, the abuse in these films is inevitably followed by much deserved revenge against the evil males, up close and bloody. But it isn’t all violence and vengeance. There are some effective moments of comedy, and of course, the film is beautifully shot. All-in-all, Sukeban berûsu: mesubachi no chosen is a must-see for pinku fans. You’ll learn exactly how effective a handful of soap foam can be for covering a woman’s bush. 

Two posters for Furyô banchô yarazu buttakuri, aka Wolves of the City: Rip-Off Game, starring Tatsuo Umemiya, 1971.