Meiko Kaji in LADY SNOWBLOOD: A Rampaging Woman Destroys Men!

Meiko Kaji was a pop star and star in over 100 movies. Watch LADY SNOWBLOOD here, hear her music. LADY SNOWBLOOD has a 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating.

Would KILL BILL even exist without LADY SNOWBLOOD?

Gory revenge is raised to the level of visual poetry in Toshiya Fujita’s stunning Lady Snowblood. A major inspiration for Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill saga, this endlessly inventive film, set in late nineteenth-century Japan, charts the single-minded path of vengeance taken by a young woman (Meiko Kaji) whose parents were the unfortunate victims of a gang of brutal criminals. Fujita creates a wildly entertaining action film of remarkable craft, an effortless balancing act between beauty and violence. Watch by clicking this link:

Watch LADY SNOWBLOOD by clicking here:

Meiko Kaji was born Masako Ōta in the Kanda area of Tokyo and graduated from the Yakumo Academy high school in Meguro, Tokyo. She began to work in the film industry under her real name at Nikkatsu studio in 1965 after graduating from high school. Her first supporting film role was in 1968 in Retaliation. In 1969 she appeared in Nihon Zankyoden, one of a series of films directed by Masahiro Makino, who recognized her acting ability and provided her with the stage name of Meiko Kaji.

In 1973 she starred in Lady Snowblood directed by Toshiya Fujita and distributed by Toho, a revenge film set in late 1800s Japan based on the manga of the same name, where she played the deadly assassin Yuki. It is considered by many critics to be her most famous role, particularly outside of Japan, and would later go on to inspire other media, including Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill films.

Kaji is also a singer. She sang the theme song to Lady Snowblood, "Shura no Hana" (修羅の花), and the theme song of the Female Convict Scorpion series, "Urami Bushi" (怨み節). When both these songs were used in the 2003 Quentin Tarantino film Kill Bill, there was a revival of interest in Kaji's music that encouraged her to resume her musical career. In 2009, she released a single, Onna wa yametai. In 2011, Kaji released her first new album in 31 years, Aitsu no suki-so-na burūsu (あいつの好きそなブルース) with songs written by Ryudo Uzaki and Yoko Aki.

Here are some of her songs:

Watch LADY SNOWBLOOD by clicking here

Behind the paywall: Female Convict Scorpion: Jailhouse 41

In a retrospective review, AllMovie described the film as "an outrageously stylish and imaginative women-in-prison film." and that the film "bombards the viewer with outrageously brutal images, including the aftermath of a rather creative castration; lyrical images such as leaves turning from brown-orange to gray for one death scene and a waterfall turning red for another; and Kabuki-like fantasy sequences that are interspersed between the action." The review noted that the story line "could be enjoyed as camp or even praised as a critique of society's mistreatment of women." Sight & Sound described the film as "artful exploitation", noting that "All the male-female relationships are portrayed as antagonistic and abusive, and there is little empathy among the women themselves" as well as that "Although there are scenes of rape, torture and molestation, the tough content is offset by the film's formal beauty -- it's a rare scene that passes without some kind of visual or aural flourish."

Video Watchdog described the film as "the breakout rediscovery of the new millennium."