Wandering Ginza Butterfly Collection
directed by Kazuhiko Yamaguchi
starring Meiko Kaji, Sonny Chiba
Arrow Video
There are few figures in Japanese cinema as beloved and effortlessly cool as Meiko Kaji. Although her name may not be instantly recognizable, her influence is felt in pop culture in the East and West. She was the inspiration for O-Ren Ishii in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill, both in terms of costuming and a Kaji’s fighting style that employs no wasted movement. Her Lady Snowblood and the Female Prisoner Scorpion film series are also cult favorites. Starring as the steely Nami in Wandering Ginza Butterfly is a prime example of how Kaji was able to shine even in more pedestrian films.
Wandering Ginza Butterfly was originally planned as a semi-remake of the Paul Newman classic The Hustler. Remnants of that idea still linger, especially in a high stake billiards game where Nami, “The Red Cherry Blossom” (Kaji), plays to save the hostess club that took her in after her release from prison from an unscrupulous yakuza gang. When she and her friends are double-crossed by the gang, Nami grabs her katana and wreaks vengeance on the mobsters.
In the sequel, Wandering Ginza Butterfly 2: She-Cat Gambler, also made in 1972, Nami returns and is on the hunt for the yakuza boss who killed her father. With the aid of a charismatic pimp played by Sonny Chiba, they work their way through the Ginza underworld to a fateful showdown with the boss. In the climatic showdown, Kaji’s stoic approach complements Chiba’s far more kinetic brand of fighting. Like in the original film, when Nami dons her white kimono, you know the blood will flow and no quarter will be given.
Ably directed by Kazuhiko Yamaguchi, the Wandering Ginza Butterfly films were intended as forgettable formula films, but with a star like Meiko Kaji, Yamagushi was able to elevate the films into something far more lasting. It should not come a surprise that the director of the Sister Street Fighter series would have a knack for female centered action films. Yamaguchi isn’t a particularly stylized director, but he certainly knows when to pull out the flourishes to punctuate his most important sequences. The final bloodbath showdowns in both of these films are exactly what fans of ’70s Japanese action live for.
