Lady Snowblood (修羅雪姫)

'Shura-Yuki-Hime' - (tea, pencil, biro & white ink on card)

My latest tea stained piece brings you the beautiful 1970's Japanese actress, Meiko Kaji from the cult classic movie 'Lady Snowblood' (original Japanese title 修羅雪姫, Shurayukihime). A 1973 Japanese film directed by Toshiya Fujita. It is based on a manga comic called Shurayukihime.

The title of this piece is 'Shira-Yuki-Hime' which is the name of the main protagonist. This has to be one of my favourite movies in my collection, fantastic story of tragedy, great imagery and swordtastic action.

Shurayukihime (修羅雪姫) – meaning “carnage snow princess” – is a pun on Shirayukihime “white snow princess”, usually referring to Snow White, and is translated for this classic film as “Princess Snowblood”.

It was also a major inspiration for Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill, which borrows plot, characters, visual motifs and settings. In particular the character O-Ren Ishii is based on Lady Snowblood. The scene in which The Bride fights O-Ren Ishii uses a snowy landscape that echoes scenes in Lady Snowblood. The theme song, "Shura No Hana", sung by Meiko Kaji (translated by Tarantino as "The Flower of Carnage") is also used in Kill Bill, Vol. 1.