Shogun's Joy of Torture
Poster of Shogun's Joy of Torture (1968)
Directed byTeruo Ishii
Written byTeruo Ishii
Starring
CinematographyMotoya Washyo
Music byMasao Yagi
Distributed byToei
Release date
  • September 28, 1968 (1968-09-28)
Running time
96 minutes[1]
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese

Shogun's Joy of Torture (徳川女刑罰史, Tokugawa onna keibatsu-shi, Tokugawa Era Female Punishment) is a 1968 Japanese ero guro film directed by Teruo Ishii and distributed by Toei.[2] The film, which can be classified as belonging to a subgenre of pink films, is considered a precursor to Toei's ventures into the "pinky violent" style of filmmaking seen in the early 1970s.[3] It was followed by Shogun's Sadism in 1976.

Plot

A historian warns, “if judicial cruelty is not diminished, we can turn wild and cruel again”.

In Edo period Japan, Judge Yoshioka (Teruo Yoshida) reflects upon prior cases in which torture was utilized.

The first case concerns Mitsu (Masumi Tachibana) and her brother Shinzô (also played by Teruo Yoshida). One day, Shinzô is injured in a logging accident and a local kimono shop owner, Minosuke, pays for his doctor’s fees. Mitsu is reminded that she is indebted to Minosuke and, one night while visiting, is raped by him.

Shinzô realizes what transpired when she returns late and resolves to kill Minosuke, only to be stopped by Mitsu. They confess their mutual feelings for each other and begin an incestuous relationship.

Minosuke visits and witnesses the two embracing, using the relationship as blackmail and raping Mitsu in front of Shinzô. The next day, Mitsu finds Shinzô has committed suicide with a straight razor. When Minosuke arrives, Mitsu chases him down the street, assaulting him with a straight razor.

Arrested for the assault, Mitsu is interrogated with torture by the authorities, led by Lord Nanbara (Fumio Watanabe) about the rumor of an incestuous relationship. Presented before Judge Yoshioka, who bears a striking resemblance to her brother, it is revealed that Minosuke confessed to raping Mitsu. She is presented with the option of refuting Minosuke’s claims of incest for a lighter sentence of exile, but she instead confesses to the incest and is executed by being crucified upside down in a rising tide.

The second story is set in Juko Temple. An abbess, Myoshin (Miki Obana), has a sexual rendezvous with a priest , Shunkai (Shin'ichirô Hayashi), and is spied on by the Abbess, Reiho (Yuki Kagawa). Reiho confronts Shunkai and orders him to pray naked under a waterfall. After seducing him and having sex, Shunkai informs Reiho that they can’t be punished because they’ve both comitted the same act.

Regardless, Reiho pursues in torturing Myoshin in front of a subdued Shunkai. This culminates in the abbesses killing Myoshin by burning her genitals with a hot poker. Shunkai spurns Reiho’s advances and she decapitates him.

Meanwhile, the local authorities have gathered wind about the temple’s depravity and raid it. Reiho stabs herself rather than be captured. Nanbara and Yoshioka witness the executions of the remaining abbesses.

In the last story, Horicho (Asao Koike)is a renowned tattoo artist working in Edo, admired for his pieces depicting hellish torments. At a showing for his latest work, everyone is impressed sans Lord Nanbara who stops by, critiquing Horicho’s tattoo as lacking the pleasure inherent in torture.

Horicho elects a bathhouse owner to help him in finding a woman with beautiful skin for his next work. He finally identifies Hana (Reiko Mikasa) as having the most beautiful skin, who he later knocks out and drugs to begin tattooing her. Visiting Nanbara, Horicho asks to be shown torture up close and is allowed to join Nanbara on his trip to Nagasaki.

By this time, Hana has imprinted on Horicho and is obedient. Nanbara takes them to a barn where the authorities have gathered a group of shipwrecked Dutch Christian women and begins torturing them under the pretense of spreading Christianity in Japan.

Horicho begins his tattoo on Hana, using the torture as inspiration. He requests using Nanbara as a model to depict the tattoo’s ogreish expressions. Asking to see Nanbara’s wakazashi, Nanbara makes the other authorities leave, upon which Horicho stabs Nanbara, stating a torturer should feel the agony he inflicts on his victims. Using Nanbara’s death throes as the last piece of inspiration, Horicho finishes his tattoo and dubs it his masterpiece.

Upon finding the scene, the authorities attempt to arrest Horicho, who sets a fire inside the barn. Yoshioka rescues Hana from the blaze, though Horicho is left inside to succumb to the fire.

Cast

  • Teruo Yoshida as Shinzô/Yoshioka
  • Fumio Watanabe as Ichinoshin Nanbara
  • Kinji Nakamura
  • Masumi Tachibana as Mitsu
  • Ken Sawaaki
  • Yuki Kagawa as Reihô
  • Miki Obana as Myôshin
  • Asao Koike as Horichô
  • Reiko Mikasa as Hana

Release

The film premiered theatrically on September 28, 1968.

In May 2005, Shogun's Joy of Torture was released on region 1 DVD.[4]

In February 2021 the film was released on region A&B Blu-ray by Arrow Video in the US and UK.<ref>"Arrow Video announcement".

References

  1. ↑ Sharp, Jasper (20 March 2001). "Midnight Eye review: Shogun's Joys of Torture (Tokugawa Onna Keibatsushi, 1968, Teruo ISHII". Midnight Eye. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
  2. ↑ 石井輝男 怒涛の30本勝負. 澁谷文化 (in Japanese). Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  3. ↑ Macias et al. 2001, p. 189–190.
  4. ↑ Jane, Ian (16 June 2005). "Shogun's Joy Of Torture (DVD review)". DVD Verdict. Archived from the original on 12 October 2007. Retrieved 14 October 2007.

Sources

  • Macias, Patrick; Ujihashi, Happy; Fukasaku, Kinji; Miike, Takashi (2001). TokyoScope: The Japanese Cult Film Companion. VIZ Media LLC. ISBN 978-1569316818.
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