Femmes Fatales

October 25 2025

TROPICAL IMPRESSION

It's not the heat, it's the hotness.

As usual a promo image from a Japanese actress goes the extra distance. This shows beautiful Terumi Azuma, featured player in such films as Oryu joen: shibari hada, known in English as Oryu’s Passion: Bondage Skin, Seishojo: hitontasu no keiken, also known as One Summer Experience: Sexy Virgin, and Dokufu oden kubikiri asa, aka Samurai Executioner.

Azuma was prolific. She made twenty-five films, twenty-two of them between 1974 and 1979. In a remarkable run, she made fourteen in 1975 and 1976. These were mainly in the roman porno genre, those taboo breaking offerings from Nikkatsu Studios that became extemely popular in Japanese cinemas.

This steamy shot of her against a jungle backdrop, topless but presumably well protected by bug spray, was made in Guam in 1976 by photographer Sei Taniguchi, and published in his photo book titled simply Terumi. Azuma starred in several photo books, so there are many images of her floating around, including inside our website. This is one of the best.

Japan, Guam, Nikkatsu, Oryu joen: shibari hada, Oryu’s Passion: Bondage Skin, Seishojo: hitontasu no keiken, One Summer Experience: Sexy Virgin, Dokufu oden kubikiri asa, Samurai Executioner, Poisonous Oden and Decapitator Asa, Terumi Azuma, Sei Taniguchi, roman porno, pinku, nudity

Femmes Fatales

June 28 2023

THE END OF JUN

Embarrassingly, I've put away my spring wardrobe, but haven't yet taken out my summer wardrobe.

We scanned this photo of Japanese actress Jun Ogawa eight years back, but sort of lost her in the shuffle until today. We’re glad we found the shot, though, because it’s pretty nice. Ogawa made eighteen movies between 1971 and 1977, most of them for Roppô Eiga, which is a studio whose output we haven’t explored yet. If any of Ogawa’s work is available we’ll probably do that. We’re thinking Makura geisha no kokuhaku: Shinshitsu no technique might be a good choice. The English title of that is Confessions of a Pillow Geisha: Bedroom Techniques. Alternatively there’s Dokufu oden kubikiri asa, which was called Samurai Executioner in the West. That sounds good too. We’ll go looking. The above image is from a 1974 issue of Heibon Punch.

Japan, Heibon Punch, Roppô Eiga, Makura geisha no kokuhaku: Shinshitsu no technique, Confessions of a Pillow Geisha: Bedroom Techniques, Dokufu oden kubikiri asa, Samurai Executioner, Jun Ogawa, pinku, nudity

Vintage Pulp

January 22 2016

PRETTY POISON

Azuma turns to banditry and heads roll.

Dokufu oden kubikiri asa is known in English by many titles—officially it’s aka Poisonous Oden and Decapitator Asa or Samurai Executioner. But in our efforts to locate it we discovered it’s known online also as Decapitation of an Evil Woman and Vamp and Samurai. Do we even need to tell you about this one, considering how much info is given away by the titles?

A country girl played by Terumi Azuma goads a country boy into theivery and they and two partners quickly become notorious bandits hunted by the authorities. The story is derived from the real-life Oden Takahashi, who in 1879 became the last woman executed by decapitation in Japan. Despite this inspiration, much of the movie is played for laughs, with quite a bit of slapsticking, bungling, and yelling. Of course, it has to take a serious turn eventually, and indeed all four gang members soon become seasoned killers—just in time to start being whittled down by those annoyingly persistent authorities.

We were surprised by the comedic tone saturating much of the film, but since Japanese audiences already knew the story of Oden Takahashi, maybe some foolishness was needed to keep them interested. We could have done without it, but the movie is still pretty good, and at sixty-one minutes you don’t lose too much life to it. The poster above is exceedingly rare, never before seen online we’re pretty sure. The one below, painted by Goseki Kojima, is more common, and very nice. Dokufu oden kubikiri asa premiered in Japan today in 1977.

Japan, Toei Company, Dokufu oden kubikiri asa, Vamp and Samurai, Poisonous Oden and Decapitator Asa, Terumi Azuma, Yukiko Tachibana, Oden Takahashi, Goseki Kojima, poster art, cinema, movie review

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

November 15

1920—League of Nations Holds First Session

The first assembly of the League of Nations, the multi-governmental organization formed as a result of the Treaty of Versailles, is held in Geneva, Switzerland. The League begins to fall apart less than fifteen years later when Germany withdraws. By the onset of World War II it is clear that the League has failed completely.

November 15

1959—Clutter Murders Take Place

Four members of the Herbert Clutter Family are murdered at their farm outside Holcomb, Kansas by Richard “Dick” Hickock and Perry Smith. The events would be used by author Truman Capote for his 1966 non-fiction novel In Cold Blood, which is considered a pioneering work of true crime writing. The book is later adapted into a film starring Robert Blake.

November 13

1940—Fantasia Premieres

Walt Disney’s animated film Fantasia, which features eight animated segments set to classical music, is first seen by the public in New York City at the Broadway Theatre. Though appreciated by critics, the movie fails to make a profit due to World War II cutting off European revenues. However it remains popular and is re-released several times, including in 1963 when, with the approval of Walt Disney himself, certain racially insulting scenes were removed. Today Fantasia is considered one of Disney’s greatest achievements and an essential experience for movie lovers.

November 12

1912—Missing Explorer Robert Scott Found

British explorer Robert Falcon Scott and his men are found frozen to death on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica, where they had been pinned down and immobilized by bad weather, hunger and fatigue. Scott’s expedition, known as the Terra Nova expedition, had attempted to be the first to reach the South Pole only to be devastated upon finding that Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen had beaten them there by five weeks. Scott wrote in his diary: “The worst has happened. All the day dreams must go. Great God! This is an awful place.”

November 12

1933—Nessie Spotted for First Time

Hugh Gray takes the first known photos of the Loch Ness Monster while walking back from church along the shore of the Loch near the town of Foyers. Only one photo came out, but of all the images of the monster, this one is considered by believers to be the most authentic.

November 12

1969—My Lai Massacre Revealed

Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh breaks the story of the My Lai massacre, which had occurred in Vietnam more than a year-and-a-half earlier but been covered up by military officials. That day, U.S. soldiers killed between 350 and 500 unarmed civilians, including women, the elderly, and infants. The event devastated America’s image internationally and galvanized the U.S. anti-war movement. For Hersh’s efforts he received a Pulitzer Prize.