Member AlbertV Posted October 23, 2018 Member Share Posted October 23, 2018 (edited) Born on October 29, 1955, Etsuko Shihomi gained fame as a model and actress. A protege of the legendary Sonny Chiba, Shihomi trained in Karate and Kenjutsu and was a prominent member of Chiba's Japan Action Club (JAC), now known today as Japan Action Enterprises. Making her debut in Bodyguard Kiba 2 in 1973, Shihomi made an appearance in The Street Fighter before getting her own series of film, re-titled Sister Street Fighter, which last four films from 1974 to 1976. She would also appear in films like Dragon Princess, Roaring Fire, and Legend of the Eight Samurai among many films. She retired from films in 1986 when she married Japanese pop star Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi. The couple would have two kids, actress Akane Nagabuchi and race car driver/musician Ren Nagabuchi. Staying out of the spotlight for many years, Shihomi found another love in the form of flower arranging. A photography book in 2011 brought her back into the spotlight and since then, she has focused on her flower arrangement business, in which it has gone worldwide. Here's her official website, to which she is once again using her maiden name professionally but the URL has her married name: http://nagabuchietsuko.com (But the site reads Etsuko Shihomi) Here she is today Her daughter Ayane Nagabuchi http://asianwiki.com/images/3/36/Ayane_Nagabuchi-p02.jpg Her son, Ren Nagabuchi She appeared on 1 episode of the 1977 Super Sentai Series JAKQ Dengekitai Edited March 25, 2022 by AlbertV 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShawAngela Posted October 27, 2018 Member Share Posted October 27, 2018 Thank you very much for this post. I discovered her in Street fighter and bought the four Sister Street Figther, unfortunately as Bonzai bootlegs at that time where I didn't know that this company was releasing bootlegs... Does anyone know if there is a legit release of the Sister Street Fighter movies ? I don't recognize her in the today's picture... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted October 28, 2018 Member Share Posted October 28, 2018 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted December 23, 2018 Member Share Posted December 23, 2018 (edited) Edited December 23, 2018 by DragonClaws 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted December 29, 2018 Member Share Posted December 29, 2018 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member kingofkungfu2002 Posted January 15, 2019 Member Share Posted January 15, 2019 Some shameless self-promotion... 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted January 25, 2019 Member Share Posted January 25, 2019 (edited) Coming soon. Quote Take note of the artwork below and pre-order your Sister Street Fighter Collection before March 4 via Arrow Video (UK), Amazon (UK), and by March 5 at DiabolikDVD (US). Film Combat Syndicate Edited January 25, 2019 by DragonClaws 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShawAngela Posted January 25, 2019 Member Share Posted January 25, 2019 Superb clip !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted January 29, 2019 Member Share Posted January 29, 2019 Etsuko Shihomi, dancing, while standing on some guys shoulder's, at the 3-min 39-sec mark, was she with Chiba or another co-star?. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Omni Dragon Posted January 30, 2019 Member Share Posted January 30, 2019 (edited) 2 hours ago, DragonClaws said: Etsuko Shihomi, dancing, while standing on some guys shoulder's, at the 3-min 39-sec mark, was she with Chiba or another co-star?. I'm fairly sure it's Chiba, with something that maybe uncommon to some of his tough screen characters, a smile. Edited January 30, 2019 by Silver and Gold Dragon 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted February 26, 2019 Member Share Posted February 26, 2019 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted June 4, 2019 Member Share Posted June 4, 2019 (edited) Edited June 4, 2019 by DragonClaws 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DrNgor Posted October 2, 2020 Member Share Posted October 2, 2020 Here's a question (maybe @Takuma knows): Was the creation of Sister Street Fighter directly related to the success that Angela Mao was having at Golden Harvest at the time? Or was there another Hong Kong/Taiwanese actress whose films were doing well in Japan at the time? Or did Sonny Chiba simply believe in her talents enough to feel that she deserved her own movie? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Takuma Posted October 2, 2020 Member Share Posted October 2, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, DrNgor said: Here's a question (maybe @Takuma knows): Was the creation of Sister Street Fighter directly related to the success that Angela Mao was having at Golden Harvest at the time? Or was there another Hong Kong/Taiwanese actress whose films were doing well in Japan at the time? Or did Sonny Chiba simply believe in her talents enough to feel that she deserved her own movie? Glad you asked. Sister Street Fighter was actually written for Angela Mao, who was supposed to star in it. Mao was already known in Japan because of Enter the Dragon, whose success upon its 1973 Christmas release had essentially started the Japanese karate film boom. Toei put out The Street Fighter in February 1974, and from there on it was mass production of karate films with Chiba, Tadashi Yamashita and even Tsunehiko Watase. There was a lot of demand (note: the other Bruce Lee films were only released in Japan after EtD, in 1974-1975). Mao, however, she dropped out on the last moment. Some sources say she stayed in Hong Kong because Golden Harvest gave her Stoner, director Yamaguchi said she couldn’t get a visa to Japan. Personally I suspect the latter explanation may simply have been the “politically correct” way to express the former aka an excuse because she was being offered big movies in HK. Anyway, as she dropped out, Sonny Chiba recommended his 17 year old Japan Action Club student Shihomi for the role. Shihomi had already co-starred in Chiba’s Bodyguard Kiba 2 and Modern Witch Tale: Murderous Love in 1973. Toei being their usual lazy selves, they barely changed the script, hence the character remains half-Chinese and parts of the film take place in Hong Kong. The character is also completely unsexualized, something no doubt due to it being written for a Hong Kong actress. I might also point out that there was plenty of collaboration between Toei and Golden Harvest in the mid 70s. Nora Miao acted in Toei’s Tokyo-Seoul-Bangkok Drug Triangle (1973), Raymond Chow loved Reiko Ike so much that he brought her to Hong Kong to star in Bedevilled (1975), and there were also several Toei actresses in The Dragon Tamers (1975) and The Association (1975). Toei also unsuccessfully tried to get Golden Harvest to co-produce The Street Fighter. Toei also distributed The Way of the Dragon in Japan (some have speculated they got the rights as a return gift for borrowing Ike, but this is just speculation). Edited October 2, 2020 by Takuma 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShawAngela Posted October 2, 2020 Member Share Posted October 2, 2020 1 hour ago, Takuma said: Glad you asked. Sister Street Fighter was actually written for Angela Mao, who was supposed to star in it. Mao was already known in Japan because of Enter the Dragon, whose success upon its 1973 Christmas release had essentially started the Japanese karate film boom. Toei put out The Street Fighter in February 1974, and from there on it was mass production of karate films with Chiba, Tadashi Yamashita and even Tsunehiko Watase. There was a lot of demand (note: the other Bruce Lee films were only released in Japan after EtD, in 1974-1975). Mao, however, she dropped out on the last moment. Some sources say she stayed in Hong Kong because Golden Harvest gave her Stoner, director Yamaguchi said she couldn’t get a visa to Japan. Personally I suspect the latter explanation may simply have been the “politically correct” way to express the former aka an excuse because she was suddenly being offered big movies in HK. Anyway, as she dropped out, Sonny Chiba recommended his 17 year old Japan Action Club student Shihomi for the role. Shihomi had already co-starred in Chiba’s Bodyguard Kiba 2 and Modern Witch Tale: Murderous Love in 1973. Toei being their usual lazy selves, they barely changed the script, hence the character remains half-Chinese and parts of the film take place in Hong Kong. The character is also completely unsexualized, something no doubt due to it being written for a Hong Kong actress. I might also point out that there was plenty of collaboration between Toei and Golden Harvest in the mid 70s. Nora Miao acted in Toei’s Tokyo-Seoul-Bangkok Drug Triangle (1973), Raymond Chow loved Reiko Ike so much that he brought her to Hong Kong to star in Bedevilled (1975), and there were also several Toei actresses in The Dragon Tamers (1975) and The Association (1975). Toei also unsuccessfully tried to get Golden Harvest to co-produce The Street Fighter. Toei also distributed The Way of the Dragon in Japan (some have speculated they got the rights as a return gift for borrowing Ike, but this is just speculation). VERY interesting ! And Thanks DrNgor for having asked this ! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member legendarycurry Posted March 25, 2022 Member Share Posted March 25, 2022 Does anyone know where I can get a hold of her films on DVD/ Blu-ray besides The Sister Street Fighter Collection from Arrow video? She is awesome and I want to see more than just 13 Steps of Maki ( so far my favorite of hers and the first film of hers I saw several years ago) and the Sister Street Fighter series. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member AlbertV Posted March 25, 2022 Author Member Share Posted March 25, 2022 Here she is in 2021 doing a seminar on flower arranging 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Omni Dragon Posted June 22, 2023 Member Share Posted June 22, 2023 Below is a recent video of Shihomi, showing she can still move well, especially impressive when you consider she 67 now: https://twitter.com/tatoodelsnake/status/1667293355099951104?s=20&fbclid=IwAR0idq2OtnaPFMkRYW_-Dqx1zXX6udirJzEI-8aFA4epAzyjrMBJJG2s6IE 5 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Yihetuan Posted June 22, 2023 Member Share Posted June 22, 2023 Still moves very well for 67! Kept in great shape through the years. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member AlbertV Posted June 22, 2023 Author Member Share Posted June 22, 2023 (edited) I know her husband (rock star Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi) also gets in shape and does martial arts. I saw him years ago on the Japanese music show HEY!HEY!HEY! Music Champ (I think it was 2000 or 2001) and he was showing Downtown (the hosts) his workout regime, and for the hosts, it didn't bode so well. Hitoshi Matsumoto (who would later direct R-100 and Big Man Japan) was in agony when Nagabuchi tried to get him to stretch while Nagabuchi did a perfect split and as for Masatoshi Hamada, he attempted a dumbbell pull from behind his head and he his the dumbbell on his head. LOL Edited June 22, 2023 by AlbertV 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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