Naomi Tani

Template:Female adult bio Naomi Tani (谷ナオミ, Tani Naomi) 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.

Life and career

Early career

Born October 20, 1948 in the Hakata 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 Koji 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'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 Female Bodies in a Brutal Scenario (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. The same year 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.

During this early stage of her career, Tani sometimes worked at prominent pink film producer/director Koji 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."

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. 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 Koyu 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 Shogoro 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.

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 by the Japanese Academy for two of her Nikkatsu Roman Porno films, Black Rose Ascending (1975), and Flesh of the Rose, (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."

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, 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.

Filmography

Films which do not have their own Wikipedia articles are sourced with links to their listings at IMDB ^(a), The Complete Index to World Film^(b), and/or The Japanese Movie Database ^(c).

1967

• Special (スペシャル - Supesharu) Shin Nihon Eigasha (April) ^(b)
• Vicious Doctor (Akutokui) ^(a), ^(b)
• Vicous Doctor (Part 2) aka Madame O (続悪徳医　女医篇 - Zoku akutokui: Joi-hen) Nippon Cinema (May 23) ^(a), ^(b)
• Taste of Women (女の味 - Onna no aji) World Films (July) ^(a), ^(b)
• Three Sins of Sex (性の三悪 - Sei No San-aku) Okura Films (August 1) ^(a), ^(b)
• Necking (ネッキング - Nekkingu) World Films (August)
• (処女のためいき) 寿プロ (August)
• Memoirs of a Modern Female Doctor (Gendai Joi Igaku)^(a), ^(b)
• (女子大生の禁じられた花園) Okura Films (September 2)
• Bed of Violent Desires (暴欲の色布団 - Boyoku no Shikibuton) Watanabe Productions (October 13) ^(a), ^(b)
• Female Bodies in a Brutal Scenario or Cruel Map of Women's Bodies (女体残虐図 - Jotai Zangyakuzu) Okura Films (October 28) ^(a), ^(b)
• Ten Years of Evil (悪道庵十年 - Akudoma Junen) 東京興映 (October) ^(a), ^(b)
• (惨奇　性体実験) 東京興映 (November 21)
• Impulsive Behavior of Men and Women (めすおすの本能 - Mesu-osu no honno) Okura Films (December 1)^(a), ^(b)
• Degenerate (変質者 - Henshitsusha) Wakamatsu Productions (December 5) ^(a), ^(b)
• Memoirs of Modern Love: Curious Age (現代愛の事典 　知りたい年頃 　- Gendai Ai no Jiten: Shiritai Toshigoro) Watanabe Productions
• Skillful in Bed (寝上手 - Nehozu) ShinToho
• Fudatsuki shojo
• Carnal Punishment (Nikukei) ^(a), ^(b)
• Bed Dance (Bed Dance) ^(a), ^(b)
• Slave Widow (Dorei Mibojin) ^(a), ^(b)
• Fight with a Belly Button (Oheso de Shobu) ^(a), ^(b)
• Impulsive Behavior of Men and Women (Mesu Osu no Mesu-osu)
• (夜の千人斬) 日映企画
• Experiments on the Human Body (Zanki: Seitaijikken) ^(b)

1968

• (色道仁義) Yamabe Productions (March)
• (極秘　女拷問 Gakuhi Onna Gomon) 東京興映 (April) ^(a), ^(b)
• Joys of Torture: Tokugawa History Women Punishment (徳川女系図 - Tokugawa Onna Keizu) Toei (May 1)^(a)
• Woman's Sex Drive (女の色欲 - Onna no Shikiyoku) Yamabe Productions (May)^(a), ^(b)
• Training of the Flesh (花と蛇より　肉の飼育 - Niku no Shiiku) Yamabe Productions (June)^(a), ^(b)
• Season for Rapists(痴漢の季節 - Chikan no Kisetsu) 寺坂プロ (June) ^(a), ^(b)
• Sex and Marriage (Seihonno to Kekkon)
• Orgy of the Flesh (Niku no Kyo-en)^(a), ^(b)
• Lady Poison Rampage (悪女乱行 - Akujo Ranko) Okura Films
• Bill for Lust (Aiyoku no Seisansho)
• Virgins with Bad Reputations (Fudatsuki Shojo) (1967?) ^(a)
• Tokyo Bathhouse (Onna Ukiyo Buro)^(a), ^(b)
• Search for a True Virgin (Jun Shojo Shirabe)^(a), ^(b)
• Whip and the Beast (鞭と陰獣 - Muchi to Inju) Yamabe Productions
• (或る色魔) プロ鷹
• (続・花と蛇　赤い拷問) Yamabe Productions
• (肉体手形) Yamabe Productions

1969

• (女が満たされる時　魔性妻) Tani Productions (January)
• Flesh Resume (Nikutai no Rirekisho)
• Pleasure of Flesh (Nikutai no Kanki)
• Top Secrets of Women Torture (Gokuhi Onna Gomon)
• Season for Rapists (Chikan no Kisetsu)

1971

• Special Triangle Affair (Tokushu Sankaku Kankei)
• Bed Technique Diary (Jinsei Mewaza Nikki)
• Sex Devil (Sei Gaki)
• Abnormal Sex Game (Ijo Seigi)
• Finger Mischief (Yubi no Itazura)
• Erotic Appraisal (Seiai Kantei)
• Finger Mischief 2: Pressure Point Hell (Zoku Yubi no Itazura: Tsubo Jigoku)
• Sex and Greed (Sex Iro to Yoku)
• Ripe Female Body (熟した女体 - Jukushita Nyota) Million (November)^c

1972

• Sensuous Beasts (しなやかな獣たち - Shinayakana kemonotachi) Nikkatsu (February 9)

^{a, b, c}

• Bedroom Technique (Shinshitsu no Technique)
• Stolen Sex (Netorareta Sei)
• Cruelty: Pink Skin Hell (Zankoku: Benihada Jigoku)
• Sex Killer (性の殺し屋 - Sei no Koroshiya) (Tani directed)
• Escapade Journal (Seiyu-ki)
• Starved Sex Beast (Ueta Inju) (Tani directed)
• Tools of Sexual Abuse (Sex Seme-Dogu)

1973

• (日本猟奇事件) 東京興映 (January)
• Grotesque Portrait of Lust (Ryoki Shikijo-Ezu)
• Naked Wife: Sexual Confession (Hadaka-zuma: Sei no Kokuhaku)
• Knife for Cooking Love (Iro-bocho)
• Perfect Sex Crime (Sei no Kanzen Hanzai)
• Underpanty Strategy (Panty Daisakusen)
• Drifting Bliss (Sasurai no Modae)
• Female Body Pilgrimage (Nyotai-Meguri)
• Sex Pinch (Sei no Pinch)
• Sex in Adultery (不倫の交情 - Furin no Kojo) 大東映画 (October)
• Poaching by Witches (魔女の密漁 - Majo no Mitsuryo) Okura Films (December)
• Sex Competition: Blonde vs Brunette (金髪黒髪性競淫 - Kinpatsu Kurokami Sei-Kyoin) Okura Films

1974

• (実録毒婦性絵巻　お伝色ざんげ) Okura Films (January 4)
• College-Girl: Lost Report (女子大生　性愛図 - Joshitaisei Seiai-zu) 大東映画 (January)
• Trap of Ecstasy (恍惚のおとし穴 - Koukotsu no Otoshiana) 大東映画 (February)
• Sex Before Breaking Up (別れの性 - Wakare no Sei) Okura Films (March)
• Flower and Snake (花と蛇 - Hana to Hebi) Nikkatsu (June 22)
• Wife to be Sacrificed (生贄夫人 - Ikenie Fujin) Nikkatsu (October 26)

1975

• (三人の浮気妻) World Films (January 18)
• (怪猫トルコ風呂) 東映東京 (January 29)
• (レスビアンの世界) －恍惚－ 　Nikkatsu (February 19)
• (禁断　性愛の詩) 大東映画 (March 21)
• Cruelty: Black Rose Torture (残酷　黒薔薇私刑) Nikkatsu (April 26)
• Oryu's Passion: Bondage Skin (お柳情炎　縛り肌 - Oryu Joen: Shibari Hada) Nikkatsu (June 18)
• (残酷　女高生（性）私刑) Nikkatsu (July 23)
• Black Rose Ascending (黒薔薇昇天 - Kurobara Shôten) Nikkatsu (August 9)
• (情炎夜這秘話) ShinToho (October)
• (新妻地獄) Nikkatsu (December 6)
• Wet Lust: Open the Tulip (濡れた欲情　ひらけ！チューリップ - Nureta Tokujo: Hirake! Tulip) Nikkatsu (December 24)
• (花の女王蜂性狂乱) Okura Films (December 27)
• (おかきぞめ　新・花電車) Million (December)
• (甘い体験　愛人関係) ShinToho (December)
• Cruelty: Black Rose Torture (Zankoku: Kurobara Lynch)
• Cruelty of the Female Inquisition (Zangyaku Onna Gomon)

1976

• (残虐女刑史 - Zangyaku Onna Kei-shi ShinToho (January)
• Rape! (犯す！ - Okasu!) Nikkatsu (February 7)
• Wet Vase (濡れた壺 - Nureta Tsubo) Nikkatsu (March 29)
• Slave Wife (奴隷妻 - Dorei Zuma) Nikkatsu (June 12)
• (残酷縛絵伝奇) ShinToho (August)
• (花芯の刺青　熟れた壺 - Kashin no Irezumi: Ureta Tsubo Nikkatsu (September 25)
• (恍惚にっぽん　ポルノ色蒲団) Million Films (November 2)
• (幼な妻　絶叫！！) Nikkatsu (November 3)
• Lady Moonflower(夕顔夫人 - Yugao Fujin) Nikkatsu (December 8)

1977

• Painful Bliss! Final Twist (悶絶！！どんでん返し - Monzetsu! Donden Gaeshi) Nikkatsu (February 1)
• (（秘）温泉　岩風呂の情事) Nikkatsu (April 9)
• In the Realm of Sex (性と愛のコリーダ - Seito Ai no Korida) (as herself) Nikkatsu (April 23)
• Fairy in a Cage (檻の中の妖精 - Ori no Naka no Yosei) Nikkatsu (June 4)
• (女囚１０１　しゃぶる) Nikkatsu (August 6)
• Fascination: Portrait of a Lady (幻想夫人絵図 - Genso Fujin Ezu) Nikkatsu (October 1)
• (谷ナオミ　縛る！) ShinToho (November)
• Noble Lady: Bound Vase (団鬼六「黒い鬼火」より　貴婦人縛り壺 - Kifujin Shibari Tsubo) Nikkatsu (December 10)
• Lady Moonflower (Yugao Fujin)

1978

• Lady Black Rose (黒薔薇夫人 - Kurobara Fujin) Nikkatsu (April 1)
• Rope Hell (縄地獄 - Nawa Jigoku) Nikkatsu (June 24)
• Rope Cosmetology (団鬼六　縄化粧 - Nawagesho/Dan Oniroku Nawagesho) Nikkatsu (December 2)
• Skin of Roses (団鬼六　薔薇の肉体 Dan Oniroku: Bara no Nikutai) Nikkatsu (September 9)
• Woman's Bedroom: Lusty Competition (おんなの寝室　好きくらべ - Onna no Shinshitsu: Sukikurabe) Nikkatsu (December 23)

1979

• (谷ナオミ　縄肌地獄) ShinToho (May)
• Rope and Skin (団鬼六　縄と肌 - Dan Oniroku Nawa to Hada) Nikkatsu (July 21)

1984

• Best of SM (団鬼六監修　ＳＭ大全集 - Dan Oniroku SM Daizenshu) Nikkatsu (March 16) (Compilation of excerpts from Oniroku Dan's Nikkatsu films)

2000

• Sadistic and Masochistic (サディスティック＆マゾヒスティック Sadisutikku & Mazohisutikku) (as herself) Nikkatsu

Magazine appearances

• December, 1968 Playboy (U.S.) (nude)
• December 15, 1975 Heibon Punch (平凡パンチ) (nude)
• November 16, 1976 Weekly Playboy (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.
• Miura, Jun (2004). 永遠のＳＭ女優　谷ナオミ (Naomi Tani : The Eternal SM Actress) (in Japanese). Tokyo: コアマガジン (Core Magazine). ISBN 4-877346-77-5.
• "NAOMI TANI". at The Complete Index to World Film. Retrieved 2007-03-04. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
• Naomi Tani at IMDb
• "Naomi Tani - Showa Karesusuki" (in Japanese). infoseek.co.jp. Retrieved 2007-03-03.
• "谷ナオミ (Tani Naomi)" (in Japanese). JMDB. Retrieved 2007-02-18. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
• 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 Weisser, Thomas (1998). Japanese Cinema Encyclopedia: The Sex Films. Miami: Vital Books : Asian Cult Cinema Publications. pp. pp.9-12. ISBN 1-889288-52-7. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• "TANI Naomi" (in French). www.cinemasie.com. Retrieved 2007-03-03.
• Weisser, Thomas (1998). Japanese Cinema Encyclopedia: The Sex Films. Miami: Vital Books : Asian Cult Cinema Publications. ISBN 1-889288-52-7. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)