TOKYO PAYBACK

In Japan business is warcomplete with innocent bystanders.


This brilliant promo was painted for Hana to hebi: Shiiku-hen, known in English as Flower and Snake 3: Punishment. It starred Minako Ogawa of Dan Oniroku ikenie shimai, aka Sisters To Be Sacrificed, and in fact the same painter must have produced both posters. Have a look. The central figure is almost identical, no? Right down to her hairy armpits. Since there’s no official info on who the artist is we’ll throw in our two cents. It was bondage painter Kaname Ozuma. He painted at least one other poster for the Flower and Snake series, which you can see here. In the meantime this piece is literally nowhere else to be found in the quality you see here. At least, as far as we can tell.

We watched the film and it’s a typically perverse roman porno tale about a powerful businessman married to Minako Ogawa, who he stole from a subordinate who was helpless to prevent it. When he later declines to help a business associate out of a jam that person has Ogawa kidnapped—literally thrown into a giant bag—taken to an isolated house, sexually assaulted, and coercively trained using bondage, a kielbasa, and other esoterica in order to turn her into a performer for live sex shows. That’s a hell of a twisted retaliation for being refused financial help, but twisted is what roman porno is all about.

Of technical note is the fact that, though it was illegal to show pubic hair in Japanese movies, the ever clever roman porno filmmakers found a loophole. They have Ogawa’s captors, as part of her torment, cut off her pubic hair with scissors. Though it couldn’t be shown attached to her body without bringing down the wrath of censors, they got away with showing it falling into bathwater. You gotta give the pervs credit. They were always thinking outside the—er—box. Hana to hebi: Shiiku-hen premiered in Japan today in 1986.

After a long day on the set filming sex and bondage…

 
I’m very happy to spend the evening doing this.

When is a flower not a flower and a snake not a snake? In Japanese cinema.


Above you see a poster for the Nikkatsu Studios roman porno movie Hana to hebi: Jigoku-hen, known in English as Flower and Snake: Sketch of Hell. In this genre, any mention or sight of a flower is liable to be symbolic. Some call them vulvic symbols, some yonic symbols, but in either case something phallic is usually about to rear its ugly head. The movie starred Kaori Asô and Mami Fujimura, and it was second in a Flower and Snake franchise that eventually numbered eight entries, with this one premiering in Japan today in 1985. That puts it outside our vintage purview, since for our purposes we define modern as anything from 1980 and after, but we had to show you the poster art. How could we not? This amazing promo was painted by famed bondage artist Kaname Ozuma, whose work you can see with an image search. Japanese film studios were very interested in bondage, and Japanese audiences must have been too, because many roman porno films with bdsm themes did well at the box office.

Much of the interest in the subject derived from literature, particularly the works of Oniroku Dan, who wrote the source novel for this film. His books were behind about three-dozen roman porno productions. While we don’t get these explorations of humiliation and bondage, we understand that every culture has its particulars. For example, if you go on Japanese Wikipedia, celebrities’ biographies often contain their blood types. On the other hand, if you go on U.S. Wikipedia, celebrities’ biographies often contain their political allegiances. Objectively, both types of information are completely pointless, yet they suggest—interestingly—what obsesses each culture.

What we’re saying is that since we’re not Japanese, we can’t offer much insight into the roman porno wave that swept Japan. We can do the when, where, who, and how of it—but not the why. But we like the posters, the films are usually incredibly well shot, and the actresses are generally stunning, so we watch the movies and tell you whether we liked them. You’re probably wondering if we watched Jigoku-hen. We did, and it’s what we expected—longform bondage and torture, softcore style, with little shown, but plenty implied. While it stars Asô and the amazing Fujimura, we don’t recommend it unless you’re okay with plenty of tears and pee. Neither of those are our bag, and if they’re yours, maybe talk to someone. Below, Fujimura is happy after washing off the stain of having starred in such a mean and pointless film, while Asô calls home from vacation and tells her family she’s recovering fine.
Based on length I'd say we've been trapped down here at least three weeks.

We don’t know who painted this promo poster but we think it’s pretty nice. Looking around the internet we noticed that no good scans of it existed. Until now. Our pleasure. The poster was made for the roman porno flick Dan Oniroku ikenie shimai, aka Sisters To Be Sacrificed, which was based on a book by award winning erotic author Oniroku Dan and starred Minako Ogawa and Miyuki Matsumoto. The two play siblings who inherit their grandfather’s inn but are held captive and tortured by the employees. Conveniently, the place has a torture pit underneath with—among other diabolical devices—a seesaw with dildos attached that… Well, just have a gander below. Dan Oniroku ikenie shimai premiered in Japan today in 1987.

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