Meiko Kaji

Meiko Kaji (born Masako Ota in Tokyo, 1947) is a Japanese actress and singer. She started at the Nikkatsu studio in 1965 and became one of the faces of Japanese genre cinema in the early 1970s, starring in the Female Prisoner Scorpion series and Lady Snowblood. She also sang the theme songs of both series, and these recordings later reached a wider audience through Kill Bill. Meiko Kaji received her stage name from director Masahiro Makino. At Nikkatsu she made Blind Woman's Curse (1970) and the Stray Cat Rock films, then moved to Toei.