The Earliest Fower and Snake Poster So Far?

Oka Naomi (left); Tani Naomi (center); Tyranny Woman Torture (right)

By my calculations, Oka Naomi should be about 59 years old now. Pretty soon she'll be eligible for a pension in Japan. Hard to believe.

I first came across this actress a long time ago. I stumbled upon some VHS tapes of three or four of her films (pre-DVD days) and was smitten. These were put out by Shin-Toho and it seems that she often was paired with actor Shimomoto Shiro who, by the way, also appeared in SM Hunter  with Saotome Hiromi.

I recall that those VHS movies always had the words "Violence Porno!" at the beginning, just to let you know what you were in for. Actually, by today's standards, they were pretty tame. But at least they were shot on film, had actual plots and used real actors.

Oka Naomi in Shin-Toho film

Oka means hill in Japanese and Tani means valley. I think it's a pretty safe bet that Oka Naomi isn't her real name just as Tani Naomi isn't that iconic actress's real name. Oka came on the scene a few years after Tani and it seems that someone really was trying to establish Oka as the other Naomi. Both names are, apparently, a not-so-subtle allusion to a woman's breasts.

Oka Naomi is still around. You can see her picture on the web. She doesn't look like she used to but the resemblance is certainly there. Obviously, she has switched over to more mainstream work since her Shin-Toho/SM days.

Searching her name in Japanese is a bit tricky as there are at least four different ways her name has been written:

丘奈保美
岡尚美
丘なおみ
丘 ナオミ

Oops. Make that five ways:

オカ ナオミ

She has made a ton of movies. Here is a long list but probably not comprehensive. She even had a small part in Itami Juzo's A Taxing Woman. It's been years since I've seen that movie and I didn't recognize Oka at the time. Just for fun, I checked YouTube and, sure enough, I found a scene that maybe has Oka in it. I could be wrong but it kind of looks like her.

With regard to the graphic at the top of this post, the only poster there of an Oka film is the one on the left, Woman Teacher Bondage. The poster on the right, Tyranny Woman Torture  doesn't have Oka in it but is a similar offering from Shin-Toho from around the time Oka was active. This movie came out in 1978 and was directed by Wakamatsu Koji.

I happen to own the DVD of this film so thought I'd include a few pics. The only problem with this series of DVDs released by Shin-Toho a few years ago was that they seem to have been made using the VHS as the source rather than the original film, resulting in a lower resolution DVD.

Oka was also in some of those Sukeban movies with Ike Reiko as well as Sex and Fury, also with Ike Reiko.

 

Speaking of Ike Reiko, she was no stranger to the bizarre world of bondage, having appeared in an issue of SM Select .

There's a film connection here as well if you were lucky enough to have seen the Hong Kong sicky known as The Killer Snakes which came out in  1974.

In the film, a socially awkward young man (who murders women utilizing an assortment of disgusting reptiles), lies on his bed and jerks off to pictures of Japanese porn stuck to his grimy walls.

Copyright Shaw Bros.

Copyright Shaw Bros.

Copyright Shaw Bros.

Three of the photos are of Ike Reiko and come straight from the pages of SM Select magazine.

A couple more things before wrapping up this post. Oka Naomi also appeared in some Nikkatsu films, such as this one from 1978:

And, finally, I'd like to reference that graphic at the top again. See the poster in the middle? That (and I've checked this out so I think I'm right) is for the film Red Torture, aka Flower and Snake Continued, Red Torture which I mentioned in this post.

I found the poster on this site. SMpedia says the screenplay was written by Dan Oniroku although I'm not seeing that on the poster (update: apparently his name is there). This film came out in 1968 and was produced by the pink film company Yamabe Pro (Productions). Several of the actors' names match, including Tani Naomi's. 

The film was directed by Matsubara Jiro although I'm not seeing that on the poster (the kanji at the top is hard for my old eyes to make out). 

I can't find another Tani film with the words "red torture" in the title so I'm assuming these are the same film. Maybe they added the "Flower and Snake" part later? 

Interesting that this poster depicts no bondage whatsoever. Absent the title, you might think it was just another run-of-the-mill softcore pink film.

If this is indeed the film, then this is the earliest Flower and Snake poster I have ever seen and probably the earliest SM pink film poster I have ever seen. 

Quite a find.

(Update: Confirmed. The "Flower and Snake" part was added later by the producer. Dan Oniroku mentioned this in his writings.)

Tani Naomi and Tako Hachiro, Red Torture, from Kitan Club magazine