Naomi Tani
Encyclopedia
is a Japanese actress who is best known for her appearances in Nikkatsu
's Roman Porno films with an S&M
theme during the 1970s.
ward of Fukuoka
, Naomi Tani moved to Tokyo
at the age of 18. After arrival in Tokyo, she was featured in a photo layout in Weekly Taishu / Popular Weekly (週刊大衆 - Shukan Taishu). This appearance led to offers for roles in "Pink films", the low-budget, independent soft-core pornographic films which dominated Japan's domestic cinema at this time. Her debut was in the 1967 film Special. She took her screen name "Tani" from the novelist Jun'ichirō Tanizaki and "Naomi" from the central character in his important early work A Fool's Love
. "Tani," or "valley," is also a Japanese slang word for the cleavage between the breasts. Consequently, Ms. Tani may have had a variety of puns in mind when she later opened a restaurant calling it the "Ohtani" (Big Breasts or Big Tani).
Tani's early films were principally with the small companies that were making pink films independent of the large studio system in the 1960s. In her pre-Nikkatsu career, she appeared in comedies, dramas, and action films, but it was the S&M genre which would make Tani a star. Her debut film was Special (スペシャル - Supesharu) for Shin Nihon Eigasha and directed by the prolific pink film auteur Kōji Seki
. The film had Tani in the role of the mistress of a black marketeer who tries to cheat people at an onsen
. The couple is stopped by the local villagers. Experiments on the Human Body (Zanki: Seitaijikken 1967) was a war drama in which Tani played a nurse in China where Japanese doctors are performing experiments on Chinese POWs.
Tani had a minor role in director Mamoru Watanabe
's Slave Widow
, which starred major "pink" actresses Noriko Tatsumi
and Mari lwai. Impressed with Tani, Watanabe, considered one of the "Pillars of Pink," cast Tani in her first leading role for his next film, Bed of Violent Desires (1967). Typical of the sex-thriller pink films made by Koei studio in the years before Nikkatsu took over the genre in the 1970s, in this film, Tani plays the role of a daughter who seeks bloody revenge against her mother and her lover after they kill Tani's father for his money. Tani's first experience with an S&M film was in one episode of the omnibus film Memoirs Of A Modern Female Doctor (1967), and her first full-fledged S&M leading role was in director Masanao Sakao's Cruel Map of Women's Bodies
(1967), in which she plays a prostitute who repeatedly escapes from, and then captured and tortured by the yakuza
. Tani would play similar roles for Sakao in other films such as Virgins With Bad Reputations, also made in 1967.
During this early stage of her career, Tani sometimes worked at prominent pink film producer/director Kōji Wakamatsu
's independent studio. She worked several times with the prolific director Shinya Yamamoto in such films as Degenerate (1967), Memoirs of Modern Love: Curious Age
(1967) and Season For Rapists (1969). Also during this period she became friends with the SM author, Oniroku Dan
, with whom she would work throughout her film career. Dan was secretly writing S&M film scripts under the pseudonym Matsugoro Kuroiwa while working as a high school English teacher. Tani's "pretty face, beautiful fair skin... and 96cm (38") large breasts" as well as her acting abilities helped make her a popular actress in the late 1960s. She reportedly appeared in more than 200 films before her work with Nikkatsu, for which she is best known today. Even at this early stage of her career, working for independent studios, Tani had already established herself as the "Queen of Pink." As an indication of her growing prominence as a representative of the erotic cinema in Japan, she appeared in the U.S. Playboy
's December 1968 issue in their "Girls of the Orient" pictorial article. In 1972, she directed two films from Oniroku Dan stories, Sex Killer and Starved Sex Beast. Commenting on her own directorial style, Tani noted, "I accentuated scenes with a lot of torture and bondage."
Besides appearing in Nikkatsu's first experiment in the pink film in 1968, Tokyo Bathhouse (Onna Ukiyo Buro), which featured over 30 sex-film stars in cameo appearances, Tani's first official Roman porno for Nikkatsu was in a minor role as a nurse in Sensuous Beasts (1972). Unlike her starring roles for smaller studios, she played a supporting role in this film. Preferring to continue starring in lower-budget films rather than playing supporting roles for Nikkatsu's leading Roman Porno actresses, she did not stay with Nikkatsu at this time.
Even when Nikkatsu began asking Tani to work for their studio in major roles, she refused for years because Nikkatsu was reluctant to enter the S&M genre with its Roman Porno series. Feeling that S&M was her destiny, Tani consented to work at Nikkatsu only on the condition that her first film be based on Oniroku Dan's novel, Flower and Snake
. Nikkatsu agreed. Directed by Masaru Konuma
, this 1974 film became a major hit for Nikkatsu, and established the S&M genre of Roman Porno film which would continue to be profitable for the studio throughout the 1970s and early 1980s.
Tani's next film for Nikkatsu, Wife to be Sacrificed
(1974) was also directed by Konuma, though, unlike most of her films for the studio, this one was not based on an Oniroku Dan novel. It became an even bigger hit than Flower and Snake, and one of Nikkatsu's all-time top five money-makers. Tani's female co-star from Wife to be Sacrificed, Terumi Azuma, would return in the 1975 film, Cruelty: Black Rose Torture
, and the two would be paired in several other films until Azuma began starring in her own films in 1976. The title introduced Nikkatsu's nickname for Tani ("Black Rose"), which would be re-used in later film titles. In Konuma's 1977 parody of the Roman porn genre, In the Realm of Sex, Tani appears as herself, stalked by a perverted middle-aged fan who wants to perform an S&M session with her. Tani manages to reverse the roles by binding and torturing the fan instead.
Besides Konuma, Tani worked for many of the other most prominent Roman porno directors while at Nikkatsu. "Violent pink" director Yasuharu Hasebe
commented, "I regret that I only worked with her once... a very short scene at a greenhouse in Rape! The segment was only long enough for her to get assaulted by the rapist." Tani starred in director Kōyū Ohara
's Nikkatsu Roman pornos, Fascination: Portrait of a Lady
(1977), Rope Hell
(1978) and Fairy in a Cage
(1977) which had Tani playing the role of a wealthy business woman who is tortured by the sadistic head of the inquisition branch of the Japanese military during World War II.
Director Shōgorō Nishimura
's 1978 film, Lady Black Rose
, contained two notorious scenes which are often selected as examples of the Roman porno S&M genre. In one, gallons of water are forced into Tani's mouth through a funnel while her stomach can be seen enlarging. Tani points out that scenes like these were often tricks, though no special effects were involved. "I was simply good at sucking my belly into a small ball and then expanding it." In the other, gallons of brandy are similarly poured into Tani's vagina while her body can be seen flushing from pale white to a drunken red. The film is alternately praised and condemned as "the ultimate woman-as-an-object" film. Tani's last film, Rope and Skin
(1979) was also directed by Nishimura, once again based on an Oniroku Dan novel, and had a part for fellow "Pink queen," Junko Miyashita
. As Tani's farewell performance, Nikkatsu gave this critically acclaimed yakuza period-piece a big budget.
When Tani was asked if she ever found herself sexually aroused while making a film, she stressed the artistry behind her performances, commenting that the face of a woman in actual sexual ecstacy would likely cause laughter. Instead, she says, "An actress has the responsibility to excite the audience, not herself." She further states, "... to gain sympathy from the audience, I engaged in elaborate discussions with the filmmakers concerning Naomi Tani's torture scenes, to insure that they were both cruel and beautiful." Her willingness to submit herself to scenes of extreme physical difficulty led director Shinya Yamamoto to famously utter, "Naomi Tani is a monster!"
The quality of her performances was recognized by the mainstream Japanese film establishment. She was nominated for best actress
by the Japanese Academy for two of her Nikkatsu Roman Porno films, Lady Black Rose
, and Flesh of the Rose, (both 1978). Director Masaru Konuma says as an actress Tani was, "Stylish. No matter what she did-- her behavior, her attitude, her body-- everything became a perfect picture."
In his Behind the Mask: On Sexual Demons, Sacred Mothers, Transvestites, Gangsters, Drifters, and Other Japanese Cultural Heroes, Ian Buruma
describes Tani as the most celebrated porn star of her time, "combin[ing] the savage and the maternal." To explain her popularity he says she "looked like a Japanese mother, her ample breasts tucked into a matronly kimono. She was the ideal object for men to take their anxieties out in, like the patient mother being pummelled by her sons. She was the Mother Goddess in bondage, the passive cross-bearer of masculine inadequacy."
She celebrated her retirement by issuing a vocal album entitled Modae no Heya. On this disc's recent re-release in CD format, a reviewer commented of Tani's vocals, "There’s a worldliness in her voice and a maturity which suggests she’s seen it all... There is however a fragility to her voice, a cracking sense of the truly erotic, the unseen, the taboo which drapes each syllable... hearing music which would usually be readily associated with a mid-70s Samurai movie bedding down with such muted eroticism is more than a winning formula."
Tani notes that she immediately felt much more relaxed upon retirement. "I didn't have to worry about going out in the sun. I could suddenly enjoy the outdoors, golf and the beach." Her early retirement from film was clouded by difficulty however. In 1981 she was hit by a car while walking her dog, and had to undergo extensive rehabilitation for three years. This difficult period in her life continued with her 1984 divorce from her husband. After the divorce, she opened the Ohtani restaurant in Kumamoto
, which became highly successful, and which she currently owns. In 1996 she also opened "Yours Naomi", a video store near Hakata which specializes in erotic cinema, especially Nikkatsu's Roman Porno films. She comments that "Many young people (in their 20s and 30s) who used to buy the mindless AV [Adult Video] junk have shifted to 'Roman Porn' after being introduced to it."
During the late 1990s Tani's work enjoyed a renewed surge of interest. Wife to be Sacrificed was released theatrically in the U.S. in 1998, playing in San Francisco, Los Angeles
and New York City
. In preparation for this event, Tani was interviewed by the U.S. publication, Asian Cult Cinema for its April, 1998 issue. Surprised by this attention from the U.S., Tani commented "I didn't think U.S. movie fans were interested in me or my movies. I thought Americans ignored my films because of the SM theme, since these movies give the impression of being abusive toward women. Regardless of the filmmaker's intent - the intellectual or artistic merit - I thought Americans viewed these productions as politically incorrect."
This attention from the U.S. again brought Tani to the attention of the domestic Japanese media. At the time, Tani wrote, "the fact that people are still interested in me - after almost 20 years away from the screen - fills me with buoyancy and surprise. It embarrasses me, too." In this retrospective atmosphere, Tani was finally persuaded to return to film in 2000 to appear in Hideo Nakata
's documentary on director Masaru Konuma entitled Sadistic and Masochistic.
Nikkatsu
is a Japanese entertainment company well known for its film and television productions. It is Japan's oldest major movie studio. The name Nikkatsu is an abbreviation of Nippon Katsudō Shashin, literally "Japan Cinematograph Company".-History:...
's Roman Porno films with an S&M
Sadism and masochism
Sadomasochism broadly refers to the receiving of pleasure—often sexual—from acts involving the infliction or reception of pain or humiliation. The name originates from two authors on the subject, Marquis de Sade and Leopold von Sacher-Masoch...
theme during the 1970s.
Early career
Born October 20, 1948, in the HakataHakata-ku, Fukuoka
is one of the seven wards of Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. It is best known as the location of Fukuoka's main train station, Hakata Station.-Geography:...
ward of Fukuoka
Fukuoka, Fukuoka
is the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture and is situated on the northern shore of the island of Kyushu in Japan.Voted number 14 in a 2010 poll of the World's Most Livable Cities, Fukuoka is praised for its green spaces in a metropolitan setting. It is the most populous city in Kyushu, followed by...
, Naomi Tani moved to Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
at the age of 18. After arrival in Tokyo, she was featured in a photo layout in Weekly Taishu / Popular Weekly (週刊大衆 - Shukan Taishu). This appearance led to offers for roles in "Pink films", the low-budget, independent soft-core pornographic films which dominated Japan's domestic cinema at this time. Her debut was in the 1967 film Special. She took her screen name "Tani" from the novelist Jun'ichirō Tanizaki and "Naomi" from the central character in his important early work A Fool's Love
Naomi (novel)
is a Japanese novel by Japanese writer Jun'ichirō Tanizaki . Writing of the novel began in 1924, and from March to June, published the first several chapters of the serial. Four months later, the periodical started to publish the remaining chapters...
. "Tani," or "valley," is also a Japanese slang word for the cleavage between the breasts. Consequently, Ms. Tani may have had a variety of puns in mind when she later opened a restaurant calling it the "Ohtani" (Big Breasts or Big Tani).
Tani's early films were principally with the small companies that were making pink films independent of the large studio system in the 1960s. In her pre-Nikkatsu career, she appeared in comedies, dramas, and action films, but it was the S&M genre which would make Tani a star. Her debut film was Special (スペシャル - Supesharu) for Shin Nihon Eigasha and directed by the prolific pink film auteur Kōji Seki
Kōji Seki
aka is a Japanese film director known for his pioneering work in the pink film genre. Among the accomplishments of Seki's career: he directed the first pink films for Kokuei, the oldest pink film company, Japan's first 3-D film, the world's first 3-D sex film, and Japan's first "invisible man"...
. The film had Tani in the role of the mistress of a black marketeer who tries to cheat people at an onsen
Onsen
An is a term for hot springs in the Japanese language, though the term is often used to describe the bathing facilities and inns around the hot springs. As a volcanically active country, Japan has thousands of onsen scattered along its length and breadth...
. The couple is stopped by the local villagers. Experiments on the Human Body (Zanki: Seitaijikken 1967) was a war drama in which Tani played a nurse in China where Japanese doctors are performing experiments on Chinese POWs.
Tani had a minor role in director Mamoru Watanabe
Mamoru Watanabe
is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, and actor, known for his work in the pink film genre. Along with directors Genji Nakamura and Banmei Takahashi, Watanabe is known as one of the "Three Pillars of Pink".-Early life:...
's Slave Widow
Slave Widow
is a 1967 Japanese Pink film directed by Mamoru Watanabe and starring Noriko Tatsumi. Along with the first "Queen" of Japanese soft-core pornography, the film's cast includes Mari Imai and an early appearance by Naomi Tani, two other major stars of pink film....
, which starred major "pink" actresses Noriko Tatsumi
Noriko Tatsumi
is a Japanese actress known primarily for her appearances in pink films of the 1960s. During the "First Wave" of pink film, Tatsumi became known as the first "Queen" of Japanese softcore sex movies, a title which she held from 1967 through 1970...
and Mari lwai. Impressed with Tani, Watanabe, considered one of the "Pillars of Pink," cast Tani in her first leading role for his next film, Bed of Violent Desires (1967). Typical of the sex-thriller pink films made by Koei studio in the years before Nikkatsu took over the genre in the 1970s, in this film, Tani plays the role of a daughter who seeks bloody revenge against her mother and her lover after they kill Tani's father for his money. Tani's first experience with an S&M film was in one episode of the omnibus film Memoirs Of A Modern Female Doctor (1967), and her first full-fledged S&M leading role was in director Masanao Sakao's Cruel Map of Women's Bodies
Cruel Map of Women's Bodies
aka Female Bodies in a Brutal Scenario is a 1967 Japanese pink film directed by Masanao Sakao. It is significant for being future "S&M Queen" Naomi Tani's first starring role in a film dealing primarily with S&M.-Synopsis:...
(1967), in which she plays a prostitute who repeatedly escapes from, and then captured and tortured by the yakuza
Yakuza
, also known as , are members of traditional organized crime syndicates in Japan. The Japanese police, and media by request of the police, call them bōryokudan , literally "violence group", while the yakuza call themselves "ninkyō dantai" , "chivalrous organizations". The yakuza are notoriously...
. Tani would play similar roles for Sakao in other films such as Virgins With Bad Reputations, also made in 1967.
During this early stage of her career, Tani sometimes worked at prominent pink film producer/director Kōji Wakamatsu
Koji Wakamatsu
is a Japanese film director who directed such pinku eiga films as and . He also produced Nagisa Ōshima's controversial film In the Realm of the Senses...
's independent studio. She worked several times with the prolific director Shinya Yamamoto in such films as Degenerate (1967), Memoirs of Modern Love: Curious Age
Memoirs of Modern Love: Curious Age
aka Contemporary Dictionary of Love: Age of Curiosity is a 1967 Japanese pink film directed by Shin'ya Yamamoto and featuring Naomi Tani in one of her earliest starring roles.-Synopsis:...
(1967) and Season For Rapists (1969). Also during this period she became friends with the SM author, Oniroku Dan
Oniroku Dan
was a Japanese author who had been called, "the most celebrated writer of popular SM novels in Japan." Many of his stories have been filmed, most notably by Nikkatsu studio in their Roman Porno series. Dan had a close professional association with actress Naomi Tani throughout her career...
, with whom she would work throughout her film career. Dan was secretly writing S&M film scripts under the pseudonym Matsugoro Kuroiwa while working as a high school English teacher. Tani's "pretty face, beautiful fair skin... and 96cm (38") large breasts" as well as her acting abilities helped make her a popular actress in the late 1960s. She reportedly appeared in more than 200 films before her work with Nikkatsu, for which she is best known today. Even at this early stage of her career, working for independent studios, Tani had already established herself as the "Queen of Pink." As an indication of her growing prominence as a representative of the erotic cinema in Japan, she appeared in the U.S. Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
's December 1968 issue in their "Girls of the Orient" pictorial article. In 1972, she directed two films from Oniroku Dan stories, Sex Killer and Starved Sex Beast. Commenting on her own directorial style, Tani noted, "I accentuated scenes with a lot of torture and bondage."
Nikkatsu
Throughout the 1960s, softcore pornographic "Pink Films" had been produced in Japan by small, independent studios. In 1971, however, Nikkatsu, the country's oldest film studio, had entered the "Pink Film" market with its high-budget and quality "Roman Porno" series.Besides appearing in Nikkatsu's first experiment in the pink film in 1968, Tokyo Bathhouse (Onna Ukiyo Buro), which featured over 30 sex-film stars in cameo appearances, Tani's first official Roman porno for Nikkatsu was in a minor role as a nurse in Sensuous Beasts (1972). Unlike her starring roles for smaller studios, she played a supporting role in this film. Preferring to continue starring in lower-budget films rather than playing supporting roles for Nikkatsu's leading Roman Porno actresses, she did not stay with Nikkatsu at this time.
Even when Nikkatsu began asking Tani to work for their studio in major roles, she refused for years because Nikkatsu was reluctant to enter the S&M genre with its Roman Porno series. Feeling that S&M was her destiny, Tani consented to work at Nikkatsu only on the condition that her first film be based on Oniroku Dan's novel, Flower and Snake
Flower and Snake
aka Flowers and Serpents is a Japanese soft-core S/M film starring Naomi Tani, directed by Masaru Konuma and produced by Nikkatsu. Based on a novel by Oniroku Dan , Japan's best-known author of S&M fiction, Flower and Snake was the first of Nikkatsu’s Roman Porno films to deal with an S&M theme...
. Nikkatsu agreed. Directed by Masaru Konuma
Masaru Konuma
is a Japanese director most famous for his Roman Porno films for Nikkatsu during the 1970s.-Early life:Masaru Konuma was born in Otaru, Hokkaidō, on December 30, 1937. Konuma retains no memories of his father who was a teacher...
, this 1974 film became a major hit for Nikkatsu, and established the S&M genre of Roman Porno film which would continue to be profitable for the studio throughout the 1970s and early 1980s.
Tani's next film for Nikkatsu, Wife to be Sacrificed
Wife to Be Sacrificed
is a Japanese soft-core pornographic S/M film starring Naomi Tani and directed by Masaru Konuma. The film was produced by Nikkatsu studios as part of their Roman Porno series.- Background :...
(1974) was also directed by Konuma, though, unlike most of her films for the studio, this one was not based on an Oniroku Dan novel. It became an even bigger hit than Flower and Snake, and one of Nikkatsu's all-time top five money-makers. Tani's female co-star from Wife to be Sacrificed, Terumi Azuma, would return in the 1975 film, Cruelty: Black Rose Torture
Cruelty: Black Rose Torture
aka Black Rose Slave is a 1975 Japanese film in Nikkatsu's Roman porno series, directed by Katsuhiko Fujii and starring Naomi Tani.-Synopsis:...
, and the two would be paired in several other films until Azuma began starring in her own films in 1976. The title introduced Nikkatsu's nickname for Tani ("Black Rose"), which would be re-used in later film titles. In Konuma's 1977 parody of the Roman porn genre, In the Realm of Sex, Tani appears as herself, stalked by a perverted middle-aged fan who wants to perform an S&M session with her. Tani manages to reverse the roles by binding and torturing the fan instead.
Besides Konuma, Tani worked for many of the other most prominent Roman porno directors while at Nikkatsu. "Violent pink" director Yasuharu Hasebe
Yasuharu Hasebe
was a Japanese film director best known known for his movies in the "Violent pink" subgenre of the Pink film, such as Assault! Jack the Ripper , Rape! , Rape! 13th Hour and Raping!...
commented, "I regret that I only worked with her once... a very short scene at a greenhouse in Rape! The segment was only long enough for her to get assaulted by the rapist." Tani starred in director Kōyū Ohara
Koyu Ohara
is a Japanese film director best known known for his popular Roman Porno films, Fairy in a Cage and the Pink Tush Girl series...
's Nikkatsu Roman pornos, Fascination: Portrait of a Lady
Fascination: Portrait of a Lady
is a 1977 Japanese film in Nikkatsu's Roman porno series, directed by Kōyū Ohara and starring Naomi Tani. Known for an ability to direct well in many genres, it was the pop-art-influenced Ohara's first true S&M film.-Synopsis:...
(1977), Rope Hell
Rope Hell
is a 1978 Japanese film in Nikkatsu's Roman porno series, directed by Kōyū Ohara and starring Naomi Tani.-Synopsis:Akiko is the heir to a yakuza clan. Hitoshi, who has been kicked out of the rival Hono Clan after attempting to seduce Akiko, kidnaps her at the behest of Hanamura. Hanamura has formed...
(1978) and Fairy in a Cage
Fairy in a Cage
aka Woman In a Cage is a 1977 Japanese film in Nikkatsu's Roman porno series, directed by Kōyū Ohara and starring Naomi Tani.-Synopsis:...
(1977) which had Tani playing the role of a wealthy business woman who is tortured by the sadistic head of the inquisition branch of the Japanese military during World War II.
Director Shōgorō Nishimura
Shōgorō Nishimura
-Filmography:* Zankoku onna jōshi * Apartment Wife: Affair In the Afternoon * Affair at Twilight * Drifter's Affair * Sigh of Roses * Apartment Wife: Secret Rendezvous...
's 1978 film, Lady Black Rose
Lady Black Rose
aka Madame Black Rose is a 1978 Japanese film in Nikkatsu's Roman porno series, directed by Shōgorō Nishimura and starring Naomi Tani.-Synopsis:...
, contained two notorious scenes which are often selected as examples of the Roman porno S&M genre. In one, gallons of water are forced into Tani's mouth through a funnel while her stomach can be seen enlarging. Tani points out that scenes like these were often tricks, though no special effects were involved. "I was simply good at sucking my belly into a small ball and then expanding it." In the other, gallons of brandy are similarly poured into Tani's vagina while her body can be seen flushing from pale white to a drunken red. The film is alternately praised and condemned as "the ultimate woman-as-an-object" film. Tani's last film, Rope and Skin
Rope and Skin
is a 1979 Japanese film in Nikkatsu's Roman porno series, directed by Shōgorō Nishimura and starring Naomi Tani.-Synopsis:Okoma is a female yakuza and gambler who returns to her hometown after a two year absence. She finds that her old boss has been killed and a rival gang is taking over her own...
(1979) was also directed by Nishimura, once again based on an Oniroku Dan novel, and had a part for fellow "Pink queen," Junko Miyashita
Junko Miyashita
is a Japanese actress who had a long and varied career working both in pink film and mainstream cinema.- Career :Junko Miyashita was born in Tokyo on January 29, 1949. She was working as a waitress at a coffee shop when she was recruited to work in Pink films....
. As Tani's farewell performance, Nikkatsu gave this critically acclaimed yakuza period-piece a big budget.
Tani's style
Known for her remarkable dedication to her work, Tani would perform even the most extreme of S&M scenes without complaint. During the twelve years she worked as an actress, she never went to the beach or allowed herself to get a suntan, feeling that it was important to keep her skin very white, so that it could be seen turning red during some of the scenes involving such things as whippings or melting candle wax tortures. Tani wrote in 1998 "The woman's naked body must not only be seen as a sensual object, but must also be able to express emotion; so, I did my best to keep Naomi Tani's body as close as possible to perfect condition."When Tani was asked if she ever found herself sexually aroused while making a film, she stressed the artistry behind her performances, commenting that the face of a woman in actual sexual ecstacy would likely cause laughter. Instead, she says, "An actress has the responsibility to excite the audience, not herself." She further states, "... to gain sympathy from the audience, I engaged in elaborate discussions with the filmmakers concerning Naomi Tani's torture scenes, to insure that they were both cruel and beautiful." Her willingness to submit herself to scenes of extreme physical difficulty led director Shinya Yamamoto to famously utter, "Naomi Tani is a monster!"
The quality of her performances was recognized by the mainstream Japanese film establishment. She was nominated for best actress
Japan Academy Prize for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
The of the Japan Academy Prize is one of the annual Awards given by the Nippon Academy-sho association .-List of winners:-External links:* - **...
by the Japanese Academy for two of her Nikkatsu Roman Porno films, Lady Black Rose
Lady Black Rose
aka Madame Black Rose is a 1978 Japanese film in Nikkatsu's Roman porno series, directed by Shōgorō Nishimura and starring Naomi Tani.-Synopsis:...
, and Flesh of the Rose, (both 1978). Director Masaru Konuma says as an actress Tani was, "Stylish. No matter what she did-- her behavior, her attitude, her body-- everything became a perfect picture."
In his Behind the Mask: On Sexual Demons, Sacred Mothers, Transvestites, Gangsters, Drifters, and Other Japanese Cultural Heroes, Ian Buruma
Ian Buruma
Buruma is a nephew of the English film director John Schlesinger, a series of interviews with whom he published in book form.-Works:*The Japanese Tattoo with Donald Richie ISBN 978-0-8348-0228-5...
describes Tani as the most celebrated porn star of her time, "combin[ing] the savage and the maternal." To explain her popularity he says she "looked like a Japanese mother, her ample breasts tucked into a matronly kimono. She was the ideal object for men to take their anxieties out in, like the patient mother being pummelled by her sons. She was the Mother Goddess in bondage, the passive cross-bearer of masculine inadequacy."
Retirement
In 1979, after reigning for five years as Nikkatsu's "Queen Of S&M," Tani retired suddenly and unexpectedly at the height of her popularity. She later gave her reason as, "I never wanted to disappoint my fans by showing an unflattering face. That's why I've always refused to do a comeback. Nobody is free from aging. I want to exist in the audience's memory as a forever blooming flower."She celebrated her retirement by issuing a vocal album entitled Modae no Heya. On this disc's recent re-release in CD format, a reviewer commented of Tani's vocals, "There’s a worldliness in her voice and a maturity which suggests she’s seen it all... There is however a fragility to her voice, a cracking sense of the truly erotic, the unseen, the taboo which drapes each syllable... hearing music which would usually be readily associated with a mid-70s Samurai movie bedding down with such muted eroticism is more than a winning formula."
Tani notes that she immediately felt much more relaxed upon retirement. "I didn't have to worry about going out in the sun. I could suddenly enjoy the outdoors, golf and the beach." Her early retirement from film was clouded by difficulty however. In 1981 she was hit by a car while walking her dog, and had to undergo extensive rehabilitation for three years. This difficult period in her life continued with her 1984 divorce from her husband. After the divorce, she opened the Ohtani restaurant in Kumamoto
Kumamoto, Kumamoto
is the capital city of Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan. Greater Kumamoto has a population of 1,460,000, as of the 2000 census...
, which became highly successful, and which she currently owns. In 1996 she also opened "Yours Naomi", a video store near Hakata which specializes in erotic cinema, especially Nikkatsu's Roman Porno films. She comments that "Many young people (in their 20s and 30s) who used to buy the mindless AV [Adult Video] junk have shifted to 'Roman Porn' after being introduced to it."
During the late 1990s Tani's work enjoyed a renewed surge of interest. Wife to be Sacrificed was released theatrically in the U.S. in 1998, playing in San Francisco, Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
and New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. In preparation for this event, Tani was interviewed by the U.S. publication, Asian Cult Cinema for its April, 1998 issue. Surprised by this attention from the U.S., Tani commented "I didn't think U.S. movie fans were interested in me or my movies. I thought Americans ignored my films because of the SM theme, since these movies give the impression of being abusive toward women. Regardless of the filmmaker's intent - the intellectual or artistic merit - I thought Americans viewed these productions as politically incorrect."
This attention from the U.S. again brought Tani to the attention of the domestic Japanese media. At the time, Tani wrote, "the fact that people are still interested in me - after almost 20 years away from the screen - fills me with buoyancy and surprise. It embarrasses me, too." In this retrospective atmosphere, Tani was finally persuaded to return to film in 2000 to appear in Hideo Nakata
Hideo Nakata
Hideo Nakata is a Japanese filmmaker.-Life and career:Nakata was born in Okayama, Japan. He is most familiar to Western audiences for his work on Japanese horror films such as Ring , Ring 2 and Dark Water...
's documentary on director Masaru Konuma entitled Sadistic and Masochistic.
Selected filmography
- Special (1967) (debut)
- Bed DanceBed Dance (film)is a 1967 Japanese pink film directed by Toshio Okuwaki for World Eiga. One of the director's best films, it features an early appearance by Naomi Tani.-Synopsis:...
(1967) - Cruel Map of Women's BodiesCruel Map of Women's Bodiesaka Female Bodies in a Brutal Scenario is a 1967 Japanese pink film directed by Masanao Sakao. It is significant for being future "S&M Queen" Naomi Tani's first starring role in a film dealing primarily with S&M.-Synopsis:...
(1967) - Memoirs of Modern Love: Curious AgeMemoirs of Modern Love: Curious Ageaka Contemporary Dictionary of Love: Age of Curiosity is a 1967 Japanese pink film directed by Shin'ya Yamamoto and featuring Naomi Tani in one of her earliest starring roles.-Synopsis:...
(1967) - Slave WidowSlave Widowis a 1967 Japanese Pink film directed by Mamoru Watanabe and starring Noriko Tatsumi. Along with the first "Queen" of Japanese soft-core pornography, the film's cast includes Mari Imai and an early appearance by Naomi Tani, two other major stars of pink film....
(1967) - Flower and SnakeFlower and Snakeaka Flowers and Serpents is a Japanese soft-core S/M film starring Naomi Tani, directed by Masaru Konuma and produced by Nikkatsu. Based on a novel by Oniroku Dan , Japan's best-known author of S&M fiction, Flower and Snake was the first of Nikkatsu’s Roman Porno films to deal with an S&M theme...
(1974) - Wife to be SacrificedWife to Be Sacrificedis a Japanese soft-core pornographic S/M film starring Naomi Tani and directed by Masaru Konuma. The film was produced by Nikkatsu studios as part of their Roman Porno series.- Background :...
(1974) - Cruelty: Black Rose TortureCruelty: Black Rose Tortureaka Black Rose Slave is a 1975 Japanese film in Nikkatsu's Roman porno series, directed by Katsuhiko Fujii and starring Naomi Tani.-Synopsis:...
(1975) - Oryu's Passion: Bondage SkinOryu's Passion: Bondage Skinis a 1975 Japanese film in Nikkatsu's Roman porno series, directed by Katsuhiko Fujii and starring Naomi Tani and Terumi Azuma.-Synopsis:When the boss of a yakuza clan in 1920s Osaka is assassinated, Oryu, his mistress, vows revenge. Her search for the killer takes her out of the city. The old...
(1975) - Newlywed HellNewlywed Hellis a 1975 Japanese film in Nikkatsu's Roman porno series, directed by Akira Katō and starring Naomi Tani.-Cast:* Naomi Tani: Yukiji* Terumi Azuma: Natsuko* Hiroshi Gojō: Aizawa* Kunio Shimizu: Shigeo Ōtsuki* Gō Awazu: Tōru Yashiro...
(1975) - Lady MoonflowerLady Moonfloweraka Flower of the Night is a 1976 Japanese film in Nikkatsu's Roman porno series, directed by Katsuhiko Fujii and starring Naomi Tani.-Synopsis:...
(1976) - Fascination: Portrait of a LadyFascination: Portrait of a Ladyis a 1977 Japanese film in Nikkatsu's Roman porno series, directed by Kōyū Ohara and starring Naomi Tani. Known for an ability to direct well in many genres, it was the pop-art-influenced Ohara's first true S&M film.-Synopsis:...
(1977) - Fairy in a CageFairy in a Cageaka Woman In a Cage is a 1977 Japanese film in Nikkatsu's Roman porno series, directed by Kōyū Ohara and starring Naomi Tani.-Synopsis:...
(1977) - Female Convict 101: SuckFemale Convict 101: Suckis a 1977 Japanese women in prison film in Nikkatsu's Roman porno series, directed by Kōyū Ohara and starring Naomi Tani.-Cast:* Naomi Tani as Tamae Katsuragi* Tokuko Watanabe as Miki Kitayama* Michio Murakami as Ken Kisaragi...
(1977) - Lady Black RoseLady Black Roseaka Madame Black Rose is a 1978 Japanese film in Nikkatsu's Roman porno series, directed by Shōgorō Nishimura and starring Naomi Tani.-Synopsis:...
(1978) - Rope CosmetologyRope Cosmetologyaka Rope Makeover and Oniroku Dan: Rope Makeover is a 1978 Japanese film in Nikkatsu's Roman porno series, directed by Shōgorō Nishimura and starring Naomi Tani.-Synopsis:...
(1978) - Rope HellRope Hellis a 1978 Japanese film in Nikkatsu's Roman porno series, directed by Kōyū Ohara and starring Naomi Tani.-Synopsis:Akiko is the heir to a yakuza clan. Hitoshi, who has been kicked out of the rival Hono Clan after attempting to seduce Akiko, kidnaps her at the behest of Hanamura. Hanamura has formed...
(1978) - Rope and SkinRope and Skinis a 1979 Japanese film in Nikkatsu's Roman porno series, directed by Shōgorō Nishimura and starring Naomi Tani.-Synopsis:Okoma is a female yakuza and gambler who returns to her hometown after a two year absence. She finds that her old boss has been killed and a rival gang is taking over her own...
(1979) (Last starring film) - Sadistic and Masochistic (2000) (Return to film for documentary on director Masaru KonumaMasaru Konumais a Japanese director most famous for his Roman Porno films for Nikkatsu during the 1970s.-Early life:Masaru Konuma was born in Otaru, Hokkaidō, on December 30, 1937. Konuma retains no memories of his father who was a teacher...
)
Magazine appearances
- December, 1968 PlayboyPlayboyPlayboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
(U.S.) (nude) - December 15, 1975 Heibon Punch (平凡パンチ) (nude)
- November 16, 1976 Weekly PlayboyWeekly Playboyalso known as or WPB is a Japanese weekly magazine published by Shueisha since 1966.This magazine is not a regional edition of the American Playboy magazine; the Japanese edition of that magazine was published as Monthly Playboy by Shueisha until its cancellation in January 2009.-People in...
(nude) - November 7, 1977 Heibon Punch (平凡パンチ) (nude)
- July 17, 1979 Weekly Playboy (nude)
- October 22, 2002 Weekly Playboy (nude)
- April 15, 2003 Weekly Playboy (nude)
Sources
- Konuma, Masaru. (1998). Interviewed by Thomas and Yuko Mihara Weisser on November 6, 1998, in Asian Cult Cinema, #22, 1st Quarter, 1999. p. 19-28.
- Tani, Naomi. Interviewed by Hamamoto, Maki. (1998). "Naomi Tani - An Interview with Nikkatsu's Queen of SM" (Conducted in January 1998 in Kyushu, Japan) in Asian Cult Cinema Number 19, April 1998. P.39-48.
- Tani, Naomi. "Introduction" in |accessdate=2008-12-04|publisher=VarietyVariety (magazine)Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
(Japanese edition)|language=Japanese}}