Meiko Kaji

Honestly, Meiko Kaji is one of those screen presences who can stop a room without saying a word. Give her a slow look over one shoulder and the whole frame snaps to attention. I love that her power is restraint, all stillness and that unblinking glare, whether she's the vengeful Sasori in Female Prisoner Scorpion or the snow-bound avenger in Lady Snowblood. And then there's her voice, which floors me every time. Those haunting, smoky theme songs are so good Tarantino dropped them into Kill Bill and introduced her to a whole new generation. The fact that she has the hardware too, a Blue Ribbon Award and a Mainichi best actress nod, tells you the cool exterior is backed by real craft. Decades on, she still carries that unbending, perfectly composed dignity, and to me that's the coolest thing about her.

This take was written by generative AI, one per person, from publicly reported facts (editorial policy). It is a reading of the record, not reporting.

Meiko Kaji is a Japanese actress and singer born on March 24, 1947, in Chiyoda, Tokyo. She is internationally recognized for her iconic roles in the Female Prisoner Scorpion and Lady Snowblood film series during the 1970s. Her self-performed theme songs gained worldwide exposure after director Quentin Tarantino featured them in Kill Bill. She received the Blue Ribbon Award for Best Actress in 1979 and also won the Mainichi Film Award for Best Actress.

Name (English)

Meiko Kaji

Name (Japanese)

梶芽衣子

Reading

かじ めいこ

Born

March 24, 1947 (age 79)

Origin

Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan

Occupation

Actress / Singer

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Aries / Boar

Active years

1965 -

Awards & achievements

• 1979 — Blue Ribbon Award, Best Actress
• Year Unknown — Mainichi Film Concours, Best Actress

Works summary

Appearances

265 (1965–2025)

By year (titles with a known year)

1965: 7, 1966: 11, 1967: 4, 1968: 10, 1969: 14, 1970: 19, 1971: 14, 1972: 10, 1973: 16, 1974: 10, 1975: 5, 1976: 6, 1977: 11, 1978: 3, 1979: 4, 1980: 6, 1981: 7, 1982: 6, 1983: 4, 1984: 8, 1985: 2, 1986: 5, 1987: 1, 1988: 3, 1989: 3, 1990: 2, 1992: 2, 1994: 2, 1995: 2, 1996: 1, 1997: 1, 1998: 1, 1999: 1, 2001: 1, 2003: 5, 2004: 3, 2005: 1, 2006: 3, 2007: 3, 2008: 1, 2009: 2, 2010: 2, 2011: 2, 2012: 2, 2013: 2, 2014: 1, 2015: 1, 2017: 3, 2018: 2, 2019: 1, 2020: 3, 2021: 2, 2022: 1, 2023: 1, 2024: 1, 2025: 3, year unknown: 18

Debut work

悲しき別れの歌

Filmography / notable works

• Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/kajimeiko_official/
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%A2%B6%E8%8A%BD%E8%A1%A3%E5%AD%90
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q175900

Tags

• From Tokyo
• Actress
• Singer

Last updated

November 2, 2026

Only publicly available facts are listed; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. Base data was compiled from Wikidata from June 2026 onward; ages are recalculated daily and deaths are checked against Wikidata on an ongoing basis. Works and profile fields sourced from Wikipedia reflect content as of 2026-08-26. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.