Pulp International

vintage and modern pulp fiction; noir, schlock and exploitation films; scandals, swindles and news

POWER AND PASSION

Mount Naomi erupts with deadly consequences in pinku revenge opera.


The Japanese appetite for pinku films was unquenchable. Conversely, ours is mostly quenched, but when we see a poster this striking we have to share it, and that means glancing at the movie that spawned it. Oryu joen: shibari hada, which premiered in Japan today in 1975, was known in English as Oryu’s Passion: Bondage Skin, and it came from Nikkatsu Studios as part of its specialized roman porno line, with the so-called Queen of S&M Naomi Tani in the lead role.

Plotwise, the head of a yakuza clan is assassinated and Tani, his loyal charge, vows revenge. Her search for the killer doesn’t go according to the blueprint, and after a betrayal she ends up in a dank bdsm dungeon along with her sister Terumi Azuma, subjected to rope discipline and forcibly dildoed and dp’ed with yam batter as a lubricant. Yam batter. You know how it goes in those pinku dungeons. Note: for novices, roman porno films are not porn. The term is short for “romantic porno,” and they’re r-rated, equivalently. Or more likely, they’d not be able to obtain ratings at all under the U.S. system. Just thought we’d reiterate that.

Anyway, Tani eventually slips her bonds with assistance, and her long delayed revenge occurs, bloodily. No spoiler there. You knew it had to happen. We can’t recommend this flick. There’s really nothing worthwhile about it unless you’re a fan of the form. Even then it’s middling. Yes, Tani was the Queen of S&M, but she made more than one hundred films, so some will have the feel of going through the motions. Even so, you do get several of the expected roman porno tropes. Like action movies offer gunfire and romance movies offer kisses, it’s what you sign up for. Knock yourself out.

Japan, Nikkatsu, Oryu joen: shibari hada, Oryu's Passion: Bondage Skin, Naomi Tani, Terumi Azuma, pinku, roman porno, bdsm, poster art, cinema, movie review

A FLOWER GROWS IN OSAKA

Naomi Tani discovers she's a rose that hasn't blossomed yet.

It’s been a few years since we checked in on Japanese bondage queen Naomi Tani. Well, she returns on this poster for Kurobara shoÌ‚ten, aka Black Rose Ascension. The movie, which is a roman porno—i.e. a Nikkatsu Studios softcore sex flick—concerns a self-absorbed Osaka porn director played by Shin Kishida who loses his star when she refuses to work while pregnant.

Simultaneously, over in the subplot, Naomi Tani has an unfilled life doing various things that aren’t exactly ethical in the sexual sense, such as rimming an older man for money and having an affair with a married dentist. Kishida targets Tani, seduces her, and films it. She doesn’t know she’s on camera at first, but realizes it partway through when a gaffer and a camera guy jump out of a closet.

If you know this genre you can guess where the movie goes from there. Hint: Hmm… maybe what I was doing before was kind of like porn anyway. Nikkatsu never fails to ponder whether a woman is really just a sex freak who hasn’t blossomed yet. We can’t say the movie is great, but we’ll say this much for it—you’ll really believe it’s possible to fuck while roller skating. Kurobara shoÌ‚ten premiered in Japan today in 1975.

Japan, Nikkatsu, Kurobara shôten, Black Rose Ascension, Naomi Tani, Meika Seri, Terumi Azuma, poster art, cinema, roman porno, pinku, sexploitation, movie review

RAW HISHIMI

Yuriko gets fresh in her bestselling photo book.


We could have gone several directions in posting a photo of Japanese actress Yuriko Hishimi, who appeared in such films as Kôshoku: Genroku (maruhi) monogatari, aka Diary of a Nymphomaniac, and Chikyû kogeki meirei: Gojira tai Gaigan, aka Godzilla vs. Gigan. We have shots of her in swimsuits, in flannels, in motorcycle leathers, in auto racing gear, in a nurse’s outfit, and more. But underneath all those, there’s this. Even then there are many choices because she has entire books of nudes. Well, one third of one book, and all of two others. One of her solo efforts, a big seller, was called Yuriko 1967-73, and this is one of the images from inside.

Japanese actresses posed nude often, which is why we have so many of the shots on our website. They were made, on average, fifty years ago. Today, in our current era, photos of nudes cause debate. Are they artful, or are they exploitation? If they differ from a nude Rodin or Modigliani, is it because of their realism? Is it because of their easy replicability? Or their existence outside a museum setting? Then what of a shocking museum Mapplethorpe or Schiele with the subject’s exposed genitals? Perhaps nudes are exploitative only when distributed for profit. But if profit condemns a nude, then what of the profits of galleries and museums? Are nudes exploitative because of their tendency to arouse? Then what of Rodin’s famed “Le Baiser”? Since our species owes its very existence to the drive for sex, if nudes arouse, isn’t that a celebration of our ultimate purpose on this planet?

These are questions that interest us, which we attempt to ask with each nude image. Opinions differ, but for our part we don’t believe there’s anything inherently exploitative about the nude form, though clearly the production of such images can lead to that. But we don’t live in an all-things-are-equal world, which is to say, for some it’s easier to categorize and condemn all of something than try to understand which things might actually be in one category and which might be in another. We believe some nudes are exploitative (such as revenge porn), but not all. The photo above is a Rodin with a knowing look. It’s erotic, playful, and a little shy. It’s pure art. Which is why we have a similar bonus shot below, and more from Hishimi here.

Japan, Kôshoku: Genroku (maruhi) monogatari, Diary of a Nymphomaniac, Chikyû kogeki meirei: Gojira tai Gaigan, Godzilla vs. Gigan, Yuriko Hishimi, Keiko Takahashi, Terumi Azuma, pinku, nudity

TERUMI RE-VISORED

One good accessory deserves another.


A long while back we shared a couple of shots of Japanese actress Terumi Azuma wearing a cool yellow visor. She must have liked visors because here she is circa 1975 wearing another one, this time made of leather. We’re thinking these should come back into fashion. 

Japan, Terumi Azuma, pinku, nudity

ROPE BURN

It hurts but in that almost good way.

It’s roman porno’s runaway mainstream success that keeps us watching the movies. We seek to understand them from the point of view of the millions of Japanese filmgoers that made them box office gold, and we try to do it without being squeamish about the content, which is softcore, yet far beyond the pale by American standards. Made half a decade earlier than the second wave bondage flicks we’ve been featuring lately, Niizuma Jigoku, aka Newlywed Hell, aka New Wife’s Hell stars undisputed bdsm queen Naomi Tani in a hit roman porno made with considerably more artistry than second wave films. It’s still the same basic idea though—woman has no idea she’s into kinky bondage until forced into it. But a more restrained approach than would be prevalent later elevates the material a bit. It’s still weird as hell, but you won’t feel permanently filthy after watching it. As a bonus, the amazing Terumi Azuma co-stars. Niizuma Jigoku premiered today in 1975.

Japan, Nikkatsu, Niizuma Jigoku, Newlywed Hell, New Wife's Hell, Naomi Tani, Terumi Azuma, roman porno, pinku, poster art, cinema, shibari, kinbaku, bsdm, movie review

BUTTERFLIES ARE FREAKS

If you love somebody pin them to a corkboard.

You know by now that roman porno is a Japanese softcore film genre, and that the “roman” stands for “romantic.” So it’s fitting that the poster for the roman porno flick Seishojo: hitontasu no keiken has a romantic image. That isn’t usually the case, but this one, with the colors and flowers, is pretty.

The English title of this was One Summer Experience: Sexy Virgin, or sometimes Sex Virginity Hito: Natsu’s Experience, and what happens is a man named Nobuyuki who collects butterflies meets a girl named Ruri who thinks she’s the incarnation of a butterfly. Turns out she’s a mental patient, but nuts never looked as good as Terumi Azuma, so Nobuyuki has to be forgiven for violating the tenets of the hot/crazy matrix.

This one gets pretty weird. There’s a scene where Ruri experiences sexual pleasure from being stabbed with insect pins, and all we can say is, you know, it’s roman porno. The movie has immense importance, at least to us, because it was Azuma’s first lead role, and she gave the cinema world plenty of enjoyable material over the years.

Below you see a beautiful promo shot—reversed by the lithographer, which we know because in real life Azuma’s torso mole is actually on her left—and a nice alternate poster. Seishojo: hitontasu no keiken premiered today in 1976.

Japan, Nikkatsu, Seishojo: hitontasu no keiken, One Summer Experience: Sexy Virgin, Sex Virginity Hito: Natsu's Experience, Terumi Azuma, poster art, cinema, roman porno, nudity

HISSING IN ACTION

The cat is definitely out of the bag.

This cool poster is for the Japanese roman porno flick Bakeneko Toruko furo, aka A Haunted Turkish Bathhouse, a movie you should think of as an off-the-program addition to the website today, as it is not playing at Noir City. Obviously, the poster reveals that this is a ghost cat movie, and the title does too—a bakeneko is a cat that has changed into a yōkai, or supernatural creature. They made plenty of these ghost cat flicks in Japan, including Kaidan nobori ryu, aka Black Cat’s Revenge, which we talked about a while back.

This one stars Naomi Tani, Misa Ohara, Yumiko Tateno, and the luscious Terumi Azuma. Tani is whipped to death, no thanks to her husband, and comes back to haunt her killers as an avenging cat spirit. If you’re a cat person, you might be thinking you’d love this. But the thing about these movies is the cats are basically just thrown into shots from off camera by production assistants, or sometimes suspended from wires, and there’s no doubt their treatment was not very kind. It’s good they have nine lives, because to us it looks like they need all of them to get through these movie shoots.

Below you see two more posters for the same film, alternate versions that are completely different from the one above. All three pieces are visible around the internet, but the red ones have never before been shared at this size or clarity. Watch the movie if you can. You’ll find it interesting, especially the bathhouse elements (hint, hint). Whether you can watch it or not, please be kind to cats—they’re a little evil in normal form anyway, but as bakeneko they’re just plain lethal. Bakeneko Toruko furo premiered in Japan today in 1975.

Japan, Toei Company, Bakeneko Toruko furo, A Haunted Turkish Bathhouse, Naomi Tani, Terumi Azuma, Misa Ohara, Yumiko Tateno, poster art, cinema, pinku, roman porno

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

TRICKY DICK

Some say being a big fish in a small pond is better than being a small fish anywhere. They may be wrong.

Hakkin nikubuton, aka Banned Book: Flesh Futon, for which you see a poster above, has one of those strange titles you come across occasionally in Japanese cinema. “Banned book” seems straightforward enough. But “flesh futon”? Hmm… Based on an erotic novel by Chinese writer Li Yu and starring Hajime Tanimoto, Maya Hiromi, Terumi Azuma, and Rei Okamoto, the movie tells the story of a poor writer named Mio who unexpectedly authors a bestselling erotic novel called—and this will clear up the title weirdness—Flesh Futon. See? Mio takes to fame quite easily, living in the fast lane and generally having a good time.

But his wonderful life begins to fall apart due to various unexpected misfortunes. These run the gamut from having a prostitute spread a rumor that his penis is “like a guppy,” to having to his house robbed and (now that we understand the title, we know this next part is coming) his book banned. When Mio later encounters the house thief this dodgy character reveals that it’s possible to have one’s penis enlarged. How? Let’s just say it’s a pretty ruff procedure. Mio opts for the surgery, but alas, quickly learns that being a big fish isn’t everything, as his previous misfortunes turn out to be only a taste of what is to come. Hakkin nikubuton premiered in Japan today in 1975.

Japan, Hakkin nikubuton, Banned Book: Flesh Futon, Hajime Tanimoto, Terumi Azuma, Maya Hiromi, Rei Okamoto, pinku, roman porno, poster art, cinema, movie review

JAPANESE HOLIDAY

Any day is special when she’s involved.

There are many good photos of Terumi Azuma—entire books of them, in fact, and we’ll get to one of those later—but for our money this is one of the best images ever made of one of the most photogenic Japanese stars of the 1970s. It comes from a collection called Holiday of Terumi Azuma, which is appropriate because today is a holiday in the U.S. You also may have noticed that we vanished for four days without a peep last week. That was holiday related too—we went on a spontaneous island jaunt with a few friends. Consider the above awesome image an apology for our absence, and rest assured next time we’ll at least get up an intermission card before we disappear. We have many posters for Azuma’s movies that we’ll share at some point, but in the meantime see more of her here and here. And what the heck, here too. 

Japan, Terumi Azuma, pinku, roman porno, nudity
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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

1960—To Kill a Mockingbird Appears

Harper Lee’s racially charged novel To Kill a Mockingbird is published by J.B. Lippincott & Co. The book is hailed as a classic, becomes an international bestseller, and spawns a movie starring Gregory Peck, but is the only novel Lee would ever publish.

1962—Nuke Test on Xmas Island

As part of the nuclear tests codenamed Operation Dominic, the United States detonates a one megaton bomb on Australian controlled Christmas Island, in the Indian Ocean. The island was a location for a series of American and British nuclear tests, and years later lawsuits claiming radiation damage to military personnel were filed, but none were settled in favor in the soldiers.

1940—The Battle of Britain Begins

The German Air Force, aka the Luftwaffe, attacks shipping convoys off the coast of England, touching off what Prime Minister Winston Churchill describes as The Battle of Britain.

1948—Paige Takes Mound in the Majors

Satchel Paige, considered at the time the greatest of Negro League pitchers, makes his Major League debut for the Cleveland Indians at the age of 42. His career in the majors is short because of his age, but even so, as time passes, he is recognized by baseball experts as one of the great pitchers of all time.

1965—Biggs Escapes the Big House

Ronald Biggs, a member of the gang that carried out the Great Train Robbery in 1963, escapes from Wandsworth Prison by scaling a 30-foot wall with three other prisoners, using a ladder thrown in from the outside. Biggs remained at large, mostly living in Brazil, for more than forty-five years before returning to the UK—and arrest—in 2001.

  • FEATUREd PULP

DON’T RIDE THE WHITE HORSE

Rafael DeSoto painted this excellent cover for David Hulburd's 1954 drug scare novel H Is for Heroin. We also have the original art without text.

BARN GIRLS

Two Spanish language digest novels from Argentine publishers Malinca Debora and Malinca Nueva Pandora.
Argentine publishers Malinca Debora reprinted numerous English language crime thrillers in Spanish. This example uses George Gross art borrowed from U.S. imprint Rainbow Books.

LOVES OF A BLONDE

Uncredited cover art for Orrie Hitt's 1954 novel Tawny. Hitt was a master of sleazy literature and published more than one hundred fifty novels.

INSATIABLE APPETITE

George Gross art for Joan Sherman’s, aka Peggy Gaddis Dern’s 1950 novel Suzy Needs a Man.

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