Nureki Chimuo Archive

I received a letter from my old friend Mizuki Kageo.

It was a letter that had been placed in an envelope, stamped, and sent through mailboxes and post offices, carried by human hands and feet, and delivered right to my door.

I can almost feel Mizuki’s warmth in the elegant, high-quality paper envelope. It is such a wonderful and heartfelt letter that I definitely want to record it here in this “Talking Theater.”

(I have previously shared a letter from Mizuki here. Of course, I obtained her permission for that as well.)

To record it means that I will transcribe Mizuki’s letter, word for word, with a pen. This allows me to read and savor her feelings and thoughts, which is a valuable learning experience.

I believe my work is supported by such gracious people.

(Omitted) As the day of filming for “Hostage” drew nearer, eight days, five days, three days, two days, and one day before, the director’s determination sparked my anticipation and curiosity. I’m sure other readers felt the same way.

I assume the filming of “Hostage” went smoothly, but editing still remains. In video and film production, if there is a problem with any one of the stages, planning, scriptwriting, directing, filming, or editing, the final work will end up mediocre, no matter how excellent the others may be. This isn’t unique to this project, but collaboration with a close-knit, talented team is essential. I look forward to seeing a wonderful film take shape through ongoing discussion with the staff.

As Nureki Sensei is already aware, when it comes to the world of bondage, I have a stronger interest in images than in text. Moreover, rather than overly explicit, highly stimulating content or cruel acts of inflicting pain, I find the utmost beauty in a lovely woman who has been deprived of her freedom and trembles in fear of humiliation and degradation amidst torment. Personally, I am strongly drawn to works that convey a sense of narrative.

A beautiful woman is deprived of her freedom, stripped of her clothes, her body toyed with, and just as she is about to be violated, salvation appears and she escapes the humiliation…

I strongly prefer stories where a beautiful woman, even when her chastity is in danger, is rescued. Or at least where the story gives the impression that she will be rescued.

You described this as “shame beauty,” and I believe this is precisely the same concept as the “beauty in peril” that I have long sought. To put it in the language of “Yamato kotoba10,” perhaps it could be described as “the beauty that seeps out from fear and bashfulness.” That’s a bit wordy, isn’t it? After all, nothing can rival the necessary, sufficient, and concise expression of “shame beauty.”

It is only natural that many scenes of “beauty in peril” in movies and TV shows fit this description.

Keiko Matsuzaka, playing Murasaki-zukin (the wife of Minamimachi Magistrate Toyama Saemon-no-jo), falls into the hands of villains, is stripped of her clothes, and, wearing only a long under-kimono, is gagged and nearly raped.

10

The native Japanese language

Or the scene where Yuriko Hishimi’s character, a Playgirl (an international insurance investigator), is captured, bound while wearing only a slip, and has her breasts exposed… and so on.

While the restraint of beautiful actresses, the threat to their chastity, and the standard “beauty rescue” are all fine, it’s a bit of a shame that the rescue comes a little too soon. That said, this is probably the limit for public broadcasts.

In the 1950s, as featured in the magazine Uramado, an era of government crackdowns on the sex industry, particularly SM, the photo spreads directed by the master contained a “beauty in peril” theme that wasn’t too explicit, and they have become my personal treasures.

In photos by Osamu Fujisawa… “The Room with a Sofa Bed” (March 1962 issue) (Models: Yuko Amagi, Yae Satsuki)

“A Maiden Seeking Salvation” (Model: Rie Haruna)

Photographed by Hisashi Yoshida

“Acting Out Being Cornered” (June 1962 issue), “The Room with No Escape” (Model: Ethel Monica), “The Hannya Mask” (Model: Marimo Tani). “The Woman at the Stone Quarry,” “The Song of Waiting in Vain,” “The Room of Shame” (Model: Nagisa Kage)

While these works may have been compromises made under severe repression, the fact that the rope work and nudity are restrained leaves room for the reader’s imagination, evoking a

sense of beauty and eroticism far greater than that found in today’s depictions of full nudity, spread legs, and penetration.

To use a musical analogy, the works from Uramado could be described as “standard jazz,” while recent works are more like fleeting “pop songs” or merely noisy “rock.”

In the world of jazz, Sonny Rollins, a jazz artist who continues to play the tenor saxophone even after turning 80, moving the hearts of fans, is still going strong.

Similarly, I take my hat off to your passion and spirit of inquiry, which never cease in their pursuit of true bondage.

I look forward to the completion of Hostage.

Blessed with an excellent and understanding producer and staff, I pray for your continued success and good health. 水月影緒。 Mizuki Kageo

Thank you very much, Mizuki-san.

By now, Ryu the cameraman and Producer Yamanouchi are probably editing Hostage.

On set, I made sure everything proceeded exactly as I had written in the script.

While Producer Yamanouchi handles the overall direction, once the cameras start rolling, I take the lead in directing the actors, so I naturally end up handling the finer details of the direction.

Since the cameraman is the one actually filming the movements of the two women and me from an objective perspective, how our movements are captured, or perhaps cut out, depends entirely on Cameraman Ryu’s artistic judgement. That is left entirely to his split-second decisions. I don’t have time to interfere.

On a set like this, the cameraman also takes on the role of a director.

Both planner Nakahara Rutsu and Producer Yamanouchi actively suggest good ideas during breaks in filming, so the content should be becoming subtly richer.

The two actresses, Fuyuki and Shion, have shown incredible reactions on numerous sets, reactions I’ve never seen before.

They showed me genuine reactions, not mere acting.

Both of them understood my desire to capture and preserve a record just for ourselves, and they responded with grace.

When it was over, I couldn’t help but say,

“You both did great. I’d like to give you a perfect score, but I’ll give you 120 points instead. Thank you, thank you!”

I bowed my head to the two women from the bottom of my heart.

I gave the entire staff 120 points. No, 150 points.

I was intoxicated by a sense of happiness, thinking, “When people who truly love this world come together to work in this field, can it really make you feel this good?” There is nothing left for me to do.

Leaving the studio, Nakahara-san and I walked alone to the station, and on the way, we stopped to rest inside the grounds of a temple.

“Even if a massive earthquake struck right here and now, causing a fire that burned all the tapes we just shot, I wouldn’t care anymore,” I told her.

I felt that since we had filmed something this remarkable, since we were able to film it, it didn’t matter what happened next.

I don’t want to show such a fun (and embarrassing) video to anyone.

“Even if I did show it, no one would understand it anyway, so maybe it’s better if it just disappears like this,” I added.

I’ve done what I wanted to do and had this much fun, so I’m satisfied. Completely satisfied.

If I showed this to the colleagues I’ve worked with to create SM products for commercial use all this time:

There’s no nudity, there’s no spread-eagle bondage, there’s no vibrator insertion.

There are no sex scenes, are there? No suspension, is there? Who would even watch something like this?

They’re bound to say things like that.

My butt started to hurt because it was a wooden bench.

I’d been in the temple grounds for over an hour, half of it just talking to myself about such trivial things.

“You’re saying that because you’re in a good mood, but Yamanouchi-san and Ryu-kun have a tough job ahead of them,” Nakahara-san said.

By “tough job,” he meant, of course, the editing work. It takes time and effort.

As always, she sees the bigger picture better than I do. My perspective is narrow.

After that, we went to the “Tenya” restaurant in front of the station and ate cold udon noodles dipped in cold broth.

It was thick, chewy, and delicious udon. The broth had a rich flavor and was delicious.

So, Mizuki Kageo, thank you for your letter.

I’ll get in touch with you as soon as Hostage is ready. Please take a look. And I’d appreciate your feedback.