Banka may refer to:

• Banka, Bihar, a town in Bihar, India
• Banka district, Bihar, India
• Bankə, Azerbaijan
• Banka, Cameroon
• the Banka Gold Mining Project operated by Mwana Africa plc, in Ghana
• Banka, Piešťany District, a village in the Trnava Region (Piešťany District) of Slovakia
• the Basque language name for the commune of Banca, Pyrénées-Atlantiques in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques département of France
• the old name of Wanhua District, a district in Taipei, Taiwan
• Banka (Lok Sabha constituency)
• Banka, an island roughly between Sumatra and Singapore, see Bangka Island

See also[link]

• Banga (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles about distinct geographical locations with the same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Meiko Kaji (梶 芽衣子, Kaji Meiko^?), born March 24, 1947 in Chiyoda, Tokyo is a Japanese actress and singer. She has appeared in about 100 films,^[3] with her most famous roles being outlaw characters in early 1970s films, such as the rebels of the Stray Cat Rock series, the assassin Lady Snowblood, or the murderous Sasori from the Female Convict: Scorpion series.

Life and career[link]

Meiko Kaji was born in the Kanda area of Tokyo and graduated from the Yakumo Academy high school in Meguro, Tokyo. She began work in the film industry under her real name, Masako Ota, at Nikkatsu studio in 1965 after graduating from high school.^[1] In 1969 she appeared in "Nihon Zankyoden", one of a series of films directed by Masahiro Makino. He recognized her acting ability and gave her the stage name of Meiko Kaji.^[2] From 1970 to 1971 she appeared in the Noraneko Rokku (Stray cat/Alleycat Rock) series of films about delinquent young people.

In 1971, Nikkatsu moved into the pink film business, and to avoid this, Kaji moved to Toei.^[1] There she made the Female Convict Scorpion series of films with Shunya Itō. In 1973 she took on the role of Yuki in the revenge-themed film Lady Snowblood, followed by a sequel, Lady Snowblood 2: Love Song of Vengeance. She went on to appear in several of Kinji Fukasaku's films, such as Yakuza Graveyard (1976). In 1978, she starred in Sonezaki Shinjū, for which she earned nominations for Best Actress at five different awards shows, winning four of them.^[4]

Kaji has worked in television since the 1980s. In 1989 she portrayed Omasa, an informant, in the television jidaigeki Onihei Hankachō (the Shochiku–Fuji Television version starring kabuki actor Nakamura Kichiemon II).

She is also a singer. She sang the theme song to Lady Snowblood, "Shura no Hana" (修羅の花), and the theme song of the Female Convict Scorpion series, "Urami Bushi" (怨み節). When these songs were both used in Kill Bill,^[1], and with Quentino Tarantino being a fan of Kaji's, it led to a revival of interest in her. Her songs were released on CD for the first time.^[5] This encouraged her to resume her musical career.^[5] In 2009 she released a single Onna wa yametai. In 2011 Kaji put out her first new album in 31 years, Aitsu no suki-so-na burūsu (あいつの好きそなブルース)^[6] with songs written by Ryudo Uzaki and Yoko Aki.

With the renewed interest in her due to Kill Bill, she also received many offers of acting roles from Hollywood, but refused them all, saying she could not give a good performance in a language other than Japanese.^[7]

Roles[link]

Films[link]

• The Blind Woman's Curse (1970) (Kaidan nobori ryu) (d. Teruo Ishii)
• The Stray Cat Rock series
  • Stray Cat Rock: Delinquent Girl Boss (1970) (Onna banchō: Nora-neko rokku) (d. Yasuharu Hasebe)
  • Stray Cat Rock: Wild Jumbo (1970) (Nora-neko rokku: Wairudo janbo) (d. Toshiya Fujita)
  • Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter (1970) (Nora-neko rokku: Sekkusu hanta) (d. Yasuharu Hasebe)
  • Stray Cat Rock: Machine Animal (1970) (Nora-neko rokku: Mashin animaru) (d. Yasuharu Hasebe)
  • Stray Cat Rock: Crazy Rider '71 (1971) (Nora-neko rokku: Bōsō shudan '71) (d. Toshiya Fujita)
• The Sasori series
  • Female Convict 701: Scorpion (1972) (Joshuu 701-gō: Sasori) (d. Shunya Itō)
  • Female Convict Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 (1972) (Joshuu sasori: Dai-41 zakkyo-bō) (d. Shunya Itō)
  • Female Convict Scorpion: Beast Stable (1973) (Joshuu sasori: Kemono-beya) (d. Shunya Itō)
  • Female Convict Scorpion: Grudge Song (1973) (Joshuu sasori: 701-gō urami-bushi) (d. Yasuharu Hasebe)
• The Gincho series
  • Gincho Wataridori (1972) (d. Kazuhiko Yamaguchi)
  • Gincho Nagaremono: Mesuneko Bakuchi (1972) (d. Kazuhiko Yamaguchi)

• Lady Snowblood (1973) (Shurayukihime) (d. Toshiya Fujita)
• Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Hiroshima Deathmatch (1973) (Jingi naki tatakai: Hiroshima shito hen) (d. Kinji Fukasaku)
• Lady Snowblood 2: Love Song of Vengeance (1974) (Shurayukihime: Urami Renga) (d. Toshiya Fujita)
• The Homeless (1974) (Yadonashi) (d. Kōichi Saitō)
• Yakuza Graveyard (1976) (Yakuza no hakaba: Kuchinashi no hana) (d. Kinji Fukasaku)
• Lullaby of the Earth (1976) (Daichi no komoriuta) (d. Yasuzo Masumura)
• Sonezaki Shinju (1978) (d. Yasuzo Masumura)
• Rakuyōju (1986)

Television[link]

• Sasagawa Saho Matatabi Shirizu - Kuresakatouge e no chisou (1972) - Oshizu
• Terauchi Kantarō Ikka (1974) TV series .... Shizue Terauchi
• Sorekara no Musashi (1981) TV series ... Yuri-hime
• Kaseifu wa mita! 2 (1984) (TV)
• Sutaa tanjō (1985) TV series
• Tantei Kamizu Kyōsuke no satsujin suiri 8: Izu Shimoda-kaigan ni akai satsui ga hashiru (1988) (TV) .... Shōko Hamano
• Aoi sanmyaku '88 (1988) .... Umetaro
• Onihei hankachō (1989) TV series .... Omasa
• Onihei hankachō (1995) ... aka Onihei's Detective Records (International: English title)
• Kenkaku Shōbai (1998) TV series
• Kaseifu ha mita! 21 (2003) (TV) .... Mayumi Hirao
• Anata no tonari ni dare ka iru (2003) TV series .... Shimako Matsumoto
• Nogaremono orin (2006) TV series
• Hasshū mawari kuwayama jūbei (2007) TV series

Discography[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

3rd Hochi Film Award^[8]

• Won: Best Actress for The Love Suicides at Sonezaki

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Rikke Schubart: Super Bitches and Action Babes: The Female Hero in Popular Cinema, 1970–2006 (McFarland & Company, USA 2007) ISBN 978-0-7864-2924-0: Contains a chapter on Meiko Kaji.

External links[link]

• Meiko Kaji at the Internet Movie Database
• Meiko Kaji Official Blog (Japanese)
• Meiko Kaji at the Japanese Movie Database (Japanese)
• Meiko Kaji LiveJournal community
• Schubart, Rikke. "Meiko Kaji: "Woman walking at the brink of life and death"". medievidenskab. Archived from the original on 2007-07-02. http://web.archive.org/web/20070702120632/http://www.medievidenskab-odense.dk/index.php?id=54. Retrieved 2007-07-06. 
• Yahoo Japan Profile (Japanese)