Femmes Fatales

May 24 2024

HIROMI WORSHIP

If Maya manifests in the forest and nobody saw her was she really there?

In the Hindu religion Maya is the goddess of illusion, personifying the concept that the material world is not quite real, but Japanese actress Maya Hiromi is no illusion. She appears here in a photo published in 1977 in Heibon Punch Supplement 33, and in verifiable corporeal form she appeared in movies such as Onna kyôshi: Shônen-gari, aka Female Teacher: Boy Hunt, Kyoran no aegi, aka Morning Frenzy, and Kunoichi ninpo: Hyakka manji-garami, aka Female Ninja Magic: 100 Trampled Flowers. Like many pinku stars she racked up a bunch of credits all at once—seventeen in four years—then pretty much disappeared. But you’ll see her here again.

Japan, Heibon Punch, Onna kyôshi: Shônen-gari, Female Teacher: Boy Hunt, Kyoran no aegi, Morning Frenzy, Kunoichi ninpo: Hyakka manji-garami, Female Ninja Magic: 100 Trampled Flowers, Maya Hiromi, pinku, nudity

Vintage Pulp

August 3 2021

MAGIC ACTS

And now for their next trick they'll turn the tide of war.

First off, the cross you see at the bottom of this poster is not a swastika but a much older Japanese symbol. It’s usually seen oriented as above, or, rarely, reversed like the Nazis used it, but in all cases has religious, historical, or pop culture meanings. We’ve talked about it. The poster was made for the period roman porno flick Kunoichi ninpo: Hyakka manji-garami, known as English as Female Ninja Magic: 100 Trampled Flowers. The movie is set in a time of warring clans during the Tokugawa shogunate, which ruled Japan beginning in 1603, and as the title suggests, a female ninja clan uses sexual magic to try and turn the tide of war between the powerful Tsunayoshi shoguns and the Akizuki clan. Working for the shogunate are the Iga and Kouga ninja clans, while aiding the Akizuki are the Fumi, the women of the title.

That’s a more elaborate set-up than usual for a roman porno movie, and indeed, this one will require more than the usual level of attention to keep straight. It takes its historical trappings seriously, with a convincing pre-industrial look, elaborate period dress, and a focus on succession by birth. But don’t fret, fans of the genre—the movie is weird as hell, as roman pornos must be, and you’ll be pleased to know that a virtual who’s-who of Nikkatsu Studios stars feature, including Junko Miyashita, Hitomi Kozue, Yuko Katagiri, Kyōko Kanō, Maya Hiromi, and Yuri Yamashina. What exactly is sexual magic? Let’s just say there’s plenty of vaginal fluid involved, of varying viscosities, used in numerous ways. There’s other bizarreness too, including an umbilical cord that strikes like a cobra. We don’t think the Tokugawa era actually unfolded this way, but to paraphrase the immortal Wooderson, it’d be a lot cooler if it did. Kunoichi ninpo: Hyakka manji-garami premiered in Japan today in 1974

Japan, Nikkatsu, Kunoichi ninpo: Hyakka manji-garami, Female Ninja Magic: 100 Trampled Flowers, Junko Miyashita, Hitomi Kozue, Kyōko Kanō, Yuko Katagiri, Maya Hiromi, Yuri Yamashina, poster art, cinema, roman porno, pinku, movie review

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

May 14

1939—Five-Year Old Girl Gives Birth

In Peru, five-year old Lina Medina becomes the world’s youngest confirmed mother at the age of five when she gives birth to a boy via a caesarean section necessitated by her small pelvis. Six weeks earlier, Medina had been brought to the hospital because her parents were concerned about her increasing abdominal size. Doctors originally thought she had a tumor, but soon determined she was in her seventh month of pregnancy. Her son is born underweight but healthy, however the identity of the father and the circumstances of Medina’s impregnation never become public.

May 14

1987—Rita Hayworth Dies

American film actress and dancer Margarita Carmen Cansino, aka Rita Hayworth, who became her era’s greatest sex symbol and appeared in sixty-one films, including the iconic Gilda, dies of Alzheimer’s disease in her Manhattan apartment. Naturally shy, Hayworth was the antithesis of the characters she played. She married five times, but none lasted. In the end, she lived alone, cared for by her daughter who lived next door.

May 13

1960—Gary Cooper Dies

American film actor Gary Cooper, who harnessed an understated, often stoic style in numerous adventure films and westerns, including Sergeant York, For Whom the Bell Tolls, High Noon, and Alias Jesse James, dies of prostate, intestinal, lung and bone cancer. For his contributions to American cinema Cooper received a plaque on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and is considered one of top movie stars of all time.

May 12

1957—Von Stroheim Dies

German film director and actor Erich von Stroheim, who as an actor was noted for his arrogant Teutonic character parts which led him to become a renowned cinematic villain with the nickname “The Man You Love to Hate”, dies in Maurepas, France at the age of 71.

May 11

1960—Adolf Eichmann Is Captured

In Buenos Aires, Argentina, four Israeli Mossad agents abduct fugitive Nazi Adolf Eichmann, who had been living under the assumed name and working for Mercedes-Benz. Eichman is taken to Israel to face trial on 15 criminal charges, including crimes against humanity and war crimes. He is found guilty and executed by hanging in 1962, and is the only person to have been executed in Israel on conviction by a civilian court.

May 11

2010—Last Ziegfeld Follies Girl Dies

Doris Eaton Travis, who was the last surviving Ziegfeld Follies chorus girl, dies at age 106. The Ziegfeld Follies were a series of elaborate theatrical productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 through 1931. Inspired by the Folies Bergères of Paris, they enjoyed a successful run on Broadway, became a radio program in 1932 and 1936, and were adapted into a musical motion picture in 1946 starring Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Lucille Ball, and Lena Horne.