Toru Muranishi
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is an innovative and controversial director of Japanese adult videos (AV). Known in Japan as the "Emperor of Porn", he has been credited as one of the creators of the quasi-documentary style found in Japanese adult videos, a genre which has remained popular throughout the history of the adult industry in Japan. He was called "the dirtiest of the industry’s dirty old men" in a 1992 ''Tokyo Journal'' article by Kjell Fornander.


Life and career

Toru Muranishi was born in
Fukushima Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Fukushima Prefecture has a population of 1,771,100 () and has a geographic area of . Fukushima Prefecture borders Miyagi Prefecture and Yamagata Prefecture ...
, Japan. After graduating high school, Muranishi moved to
Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
where he sold encyclopedias. He subsequently became involved in book publishing and the entertainment industry.


Crystal-Eizou

Muranishi joined the newly formed AV studio
Crystal-Eizou , known in English as Crystal Image or Crystal Video, is a Japanese corporation involved in the production and distribution of adult videos. Company history Crystal-Eizou was founded in October 1984 and was incorporated in June 1985 at a time w ...
in late 1984 and began directing films with them soon afterwards. Muranishi is given credit for launching the career of one of the first AV superstars, Kaoru Kuroki, who made her debut at Crystal-Eizou in October 1986. Among Muranishi's pioneering developments at Crystal-Eizou were his series which culminated in a
facial A facial is a family of skin care treatments for the face, including steam, exfoliation (physical and chemical), extraction, creams, lotions, facial masks, peels, and massage. They are normally performed in beauty salons, but are also a c ...
, the series where the actor would carry the actress around like a train-station food vendor, and the videos where the actress would blow into a conch shell (as in some Buddhist rituals) to signify that she had reached an orgasm. Muranishi has had numerous problems with the law in his career, having been convicted seven times of criminal violations. While at Crystal-Eizou, in June 1986, Muranishi was arrested for violating the Japanese by using an underage actress in videos. Later that same year Muranishi brought a staff to
Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...
in a "legendary session" where he filmed 30 videos in 30 days. Muranishi flew in 15 or so actresses in turn from Japan for the shooting and in December 1986 was arrested in Hawaii for passport violations and was indicted under the
Mann Act The Mann Act, previously called the White-Slave Traffic Act of 1910, is a United States federal law, passed June 25, 1910 (ch. 395, ; ''codified as amended at'' ). It is named after Congressman James Robert Mann (Illinois politician), James Rob ...
. He was released in July of the next year. Muranishi was once again arrested and fined for using a 17-year-old actress in August 1988.


Diamond Visual

In September 1988 Muranishi left
Crystal-Eizou , known in English as Crystal Image or Crystal Video, is a Japanese corporation involved in the production and distribution of adult videos. Company history Crystal-Eizou was founded in October 1984 and was incorporated in June 1985 at a time w ...
to form his own company, . According to Kjell Fornander, Diamond Visual was "a video giant which took porn to new limits and often beyond them". His Crystal-Eizou star Kaoru Kuroki also worked with him at Diamond Visual and in February 1989, a new star, Kimiko Matsuzaka, debuted with the company. Matsuzaka and her large bust led to a "Big Bust" boom in Japanese AV and helped assure the success of Diamond Visual. In the early 1990s Diamond Visual was "AV’s largest production company" and Muranishi has said that the company had annual sales of 10 billion yen (about $80 million). Muranishi also ventured into the softcore field, and directed the December 1990 release ''Daikyonyuu: Noshikakaru'' () for Xces featuring his two stars from Diamond Visual, Kaoru Kuroki and Kimiko Matsuzaka. The next year, he wrote the screenplay for another Matsuzaka vehicle, ''Daikyonyuu: Kaikan Shibori'' (), released in March 1991 by Xces. Despite its popularity, Diamond Visual went bankrupt in 1992 with debts of 5 billion yen (about $40 million) and Muranishi had to greatly alter his style of living, going from a luxury home and
Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...
to barely being able to afford an apartment.


Later career

Muranishi, who claims to have had sex with 7,000 women and produced some 3,000 adult videos, remained in the adult entertainment industry after the collapse of Diamond Visual and soon was broadcasting on his own satellite TV channel, producing about 15 movies a month with himself as producer, director, cameraman and star. That enterprise also collapsed and Muranishi once again ended up in debt. Muranishi was the subject of a British
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
TV documentary ''The Sex Shogun of Shinjuku'', part of the 1995 Without Walls Special series. The program explored "the exploits of leading Japanese pornographer Touru Muranishi" and looked at the documentary porn genre with "real sex with real women in real places". The program was later released (in 1997) in VHS format with another program as ''Red Light Zone''. As an actor, Muranishi appeared in the 2000 Soft On Demand (SOD) produced
V-Cinema Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, television series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strate ...
''Renshin Joshikousei Patty'' (} which starred SOD's leading actress Kurumi Morishita. Muranishi is also a prolific writer both online and in print. He has contributed to a blog on Japanese AV supplier DMM's website, another blog on his own website, and a series of articles going back to 2005. He has also published a number of books including ''Toru Muranishi's Grade Book'' (村西とおるの閻魔帳), a 400-page collection of material from his blogs published by Cosmos Books (コスモの本) in March 2010 (). In February and March 2007, Takara Visual issued a four volume collection of Muranishi's works from 1999 to 2001. Muranishi was the subject of a documentary film ''Toru Muranishi: It Is Nice'' by
Akira Takatsuki is a Japanese adult video (AV) director and producer, foremost known as a director of breast fetishism, busty (and Fat fetishism, chubby) as well as Japanese bondage, kinbaku Sexual fetishism, fetish genres. Early career Takatsuki enrolled at th ...
which was screened at the New Directors Film Festival in Tokyo in November 2014. The film, which took its name from one of Muranishi's early videos for
Crystal-Eizou , known in English as Crystal Image or Crystal Video, is a Japanese corporation involved in the production and distribution of adult videos. Company history Crystal-Eizou was founded in October 1984 and was incorporated in June 1985 at a time w ...
, won a special award at the festival. Muranishi also was the basis for the semi-biographical series ''
The Naked Director is a Japanese semi-biographical comedy-drama television series co-directed by Masaharu Take. Based on the biography by Nobuhiro Motohashi, it tells the story of Japanese adult video director Toru Muranishi. The series premiered on Netflix ...
'' which premiered on
Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
on 8 August 2019. Muranishi was played by actor
Takayuki Yamada is a Japanese actor, singer, and producer. He is best known for his role as Sakutaro Matsumoto in TV drama ''Socrates in Love'' and as Densha Otoko in the Densha Otoko (film), 2005 film of the same name. Yamada gained international popularity th ...
. On 15 August 2019,
Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
renewed the series for a second season. On 24 June 2021 Netflix released the second season of ''The Naked Director'', with no plans for a third season in the foreseeable future.


References


External links


Official website

Twitter profile

Personal blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Muranishi, Toru Japanese film directors Japanese pornographic film directors Pink film directors People convicted of violating the Mann Act 1948 births Living people People from Iwaki, Fukushima