This often overlooked and obscure Japanese mondomentary may not have been one immediately on your radar before now, but my research has uncovered that it definitely should be.
Women… Oh, Women! (日本の夜 女・女・女物語, Nihon no yoru: Onna onna onna monogatari, A Night In Japan: Woman, Woman, Woman Story) was released in Japan in 1963 and directed by Tetsuji Takechi. While Takechi may not be a name as readily discussed in Japan today - his influence on later Pinku films, or eroductions as they were known at the time, is irrefutable in my opinion. These movies were often self-produced softcore sex films, and Women… Oh, Women! would prove to be Takechi’s first full length feature film.
So why the sudden interest?
Well, the Japanese poster art for the film (see attachments) first caught my attention when a panel to its upper left hand side showed a female lay face-down, wearing a white headdress, with a second unidentifiable persons hand appearing to apply a dark-looking mass to her lower back.
The untrained eye may not have even paid this unassuming snapshot a second thought on first glance, however, by luck or by experience I somehow recalled a still photograph I came across while researching Sadismo (1967) that appeared to have some stark similarities.
I couldn’t be completely sure, of course, until acquiring Women… Oh, Women! itself and cross-referencing what was displayed against the image in the still photograph I had found - but once this initial comparison was drawn, I was convinced there was more to it and became determined to track this movie down.
Though many early pinku’s of this period are lost, fortunately this one had a later DVD release in Japan and so I was able to acquire the movie. The scores uptempo rhythms add a playful innocence to proceedings, with a lighthearted feel right from its opening scenes. The cinematography is shot beautifully. The movie is full of rich scenes that are awash with colour, exotic oriental scenery and Far Eastern promise. Its women are plentiful, as you may expect given the title, but while several sources describe this as a “sex documentary” I couldn’t help but feel “A documentary on the female sex,” would perhaps have been a little more appropriate.
This could, of course, have been an intentional play on words designed to dupe its audience — it’s salaciously suggestive poster art depicts an array of near-nudes with their naked flesh exposed, which is easy to be taken mistakenly out of context from the actual scene(s) depicted therein — but I’m willing to give it the dubious benefit of the doubt here that something may have simply been lost in translation.
In its serendipitous study of the Japanese female form we encounter nude Noe women, professional femalewrestlers, seafaring females diving the dark depths of the ocean, nuns, strippers, swordswomen, femalefashion models, the presumably taboo sight at the time of a woman with a traditional tattoo, “beer queens”, Gion geisha geisha girls, the participants of a female Turkish bathhouse, sportswomen, the Kabuki onnagata, and perhaps somewhat unexpectedly… drug addicted women too.
The scene of the female receiving a traditional Irezumi tattoo to her back was of particular interest to me, as I was aware through my research into Sadismo that this same scene also appeared in it’s 1967 theatrical trailer.
Surprisingly, perhaps, there are several scenes present in Sadismo’s trailer that also appear to have been excised from the earlier Women… Oh, Women!
The most notable off-hand would be the two rope-bound females seen practicing Kinbaku.
This Japanese form of softcore bondage involves rope play where its participants are tied up using thin pieces of material, often in intricate visual patterns, to achieve a certain aesthetic look. While the scene itself isn’t all that shocking to witness by today’s standards, it could very well have been to the unsuspecting market of the 1960’s.
I’m also pleased to be able to confirm the scene of seaweed detoxification therapy I alluded to earlier is also present, as suspected, along with another scene showing the skinning of a snake by a street vendor - which I strongly suspect may also appear in Sadismo (at least in its original unredacted form). This is, to my knowledge, the first time this link between the two films has been established — making Women… Oh, Women! a significant find indeed so far as the on-going search for Sadismo prevails.
While this may not be considered essential viewing as a standalone movie, it certainly has its own endearing charm and entertainment value, along with its fair share of staged scenes and some dubious factual accounts. The real bonus here though, for me, was the realisation that at least some of Sadismo’s secrets could finally be witnessed - after the movie itself being considered lost for over 50 years - and all thanks to a rather obscure Japanese eroduction that may have been overlooked for a further 50 years, had it not been for one rather inconspicuous scene of thalassotherapy pictured on its Japanese poster art.
It’s been a long, arduous, slog of a journey spanning months of research and countless hours of deep diving into the subject matter for us to reach this point. My posture is awful and my strained neck muscles are sore. I may well require a seaweed bath myself after compiling this. Yet interestingly as a side note here, since writing this article I’ve also discovered there is a sequel to Women… Oh, Women! that translates roughly as “It’s A Woman’s World” (新女・女・女物語 / It’s a Women’s World / Shin onna onna onna monogatari) from 1964.
I strongly suspect that other scenes shown in Sadismo may be borrowed from this second movie — namely its scenes of a phallic festival taking place, with what I can only describe as a hedonistic ‘hotdog’ leading proceedings, as well as symbols seen being drawn onto the underwear of women in a fertility rights ceremony - both witnessed in Sadismo’s 1967 theatrical trailer. The Japanese poster for It’s A Woman’s World (1964) appears to depict the latter scene in a prominent panel displayed on the upper half of its artwork.
This is taken from the theatrical trailer for Sadismo 1967:
Sadismo’s theatrical trailer can be viewed here if you wish: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0NlY0FWzjyc&pp=ygUMU0FESVNNTyAxOTY3
Sadly my searches for It’s A Woman’s World haven’t yet yielded results, as of writing this, though I have also attempted to contact Shochiku Films - who released it in Japan - hoping something may come of this still. It remains a significant movie of interest for those reasons, both for its connection to Sadismo but also in that it now joins the pantheon of lost and forgotten mondo movies pre-dating the digital age. Could locating It’s A Women’s World reveal yet more of Sadismo’s secrets? I certainly believe so.
It’s not as easily identifiable perhaps from the below images, but the images shared here are taken from Sadismo’s theatrical trailer, to give you an idea of the back piece tattoo on the female figure:
While the below scene is shown on the Japanese poster art for Its A Woman’s World:
Could this be from the same scene? It may not seem immediately apparent from the attached images, but if you watch the trailer for Sadismo, and also based on what I already know about the two films and their similarities, I certainly believe so. Sadismo, in fact, seems to share some footage from both Women… Oh, Women! and It’s A Woman’s World.
Curiously Sadismo also shares footage with that found in the earlier This Is Japan (1963).
The search, as always, continues…
