Etsuko Shihomi

Acting

Etsuko Shihomi

Born

1955-10-29 (70)

Place of birth

Okayama, Japan

Known for

Acting

Credits

50 titles

Etsuko Shihomi (also known as Sue Shihomi) is a former Japanese actress and martial artist best known for her roles in 1970s action films. Born in 1955, she was a protégé of Sonny Chiba and a key member of the Japan Action Club. Shihomi gained fame as the lead in the "Sister Street Fighter" film series, showcasing her impressive martial arts skills. She also appeared in other notable films such as "The Street Fighter" (1974) and "The Executioner" (1974). Shihomi retired from acting in the 1980s, leaving behind a legacy as one of Japan’s pioneering female action stars.

Known for

J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai poster
8.0

Cyborg warriors were created by the Special Science Investigation Squad to bear nuclear, gravitational, magnetic, and electrical forces. They fight the crime empire known as "Crime".

J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai

1977

Shadow Warriors poster
8.0

Shadow Warriors is a Japanese television jidaigeki show featuring Sonny Chiba that ran for four seasons in the early 1980s. Chiba played different ninja characters in each series. In the first series he played Hattori Hanzō III, in second one he played Tsuge Shinpachi, in the third one he played Tarao Hanzō, in the fourth series and in Bakumatsu Hen, he played Hattori Hanzō XV. In the 2003 direct-to-DVD series Shin Kage no Gundan he played Hattori Hanzō I.

Shadow Warriors

1980

Netchū Jidai poster
NR

This light-hearted comedy tells the story of a young man who chooses to become a teacher and struggles to live and grow in the field of education.

Netchū Jidai

1978

The Yagyu Conspiracy poster
7.7

It takes place at the time of the Shogunate rule with Shogun Hidetada and who will succeed Hidetada. A struggle for power between the family and the daimyos. Historically the Yagyu's have always been close to the Shogunate, and helped...

The Yagyu Conspiracy

1978

The Street Fighter poster
6.8

Takuma Tsurugi takes on the government, the police, the mafia and an international ring of kidnappers who aim to dispossess a beautiful young heiress of her millions.

The Street Fighter

1974

Fall Guy poster
6.5

Ginshiro, threatened by poor repute and upcoming star Tachibana, forces his friend Yasu to marry Konatsu, Ginshiro's pregnant mistress; Yasu becomes a stuntman to make ends meet.

Fall Guy

1982

Film credits

1980s · 15 titles

Fall Guy poster
6.5

Ginshiro, threatened by poor repute and upcoming star Tachibana, forces his friend Yasu to marry Konatsu, Ginshiro's pregnant mistress; Yasu becomes a stuntman to make ends meet.

Fall Guy

1982

Legend of the Eight Samurai poster
5.9

The evil Hikita clan rises from the dead to fulfill a curse on the Satomi clan by restoring the face of their warlord by using the skin of Princess Shizu. In the process of trying to capture her, the clan murders her entire family, but Princess Shizu escapes their clutches. She enlists the aid of eight samurai warriors, possessors of powerful magic crystal, led by Dosetsu (Sonny Chiba!) to help rescue the remaining members of her court and revenge her family. Along the way, they must fight undead warriors, evil spirits, poisonous beauties and a giant centipede.

Legend of the Eight Samurai

1983

Shogun's Ninja poster
6.2

In the middle of the 16th century, Hideyoshi, a power hungry warlord sets out to destroy the Momochi clan. He sends his war commander in search of the clan's hidden gold only to find that two daggers are the key to the hiding place of the treasured gold. Spanning decades, the quest for the missing daggers takes Shiranui through war and ancient tradition.

Shogun's Ninja

1980

I Are You, You Am Me poster
6.4

9th-graders Kazuo and Kazumi take a tumble at a temple in a small seacoast town in Japan. Through supernatural intervention, their minds and bodies are switched, and the result is a touching and hilarious coming-of-age comedy as they attempt to survive the pressures of junior high school life.

I Are You, You Am Me

1982

Atami Murder Case poster
10.0

Chief Detective KIMURA Denbei, fondly referred to as Smoky Denbei, is a legendary figure at the Metropolitan Police Department. Transferred to Denbei's Criminal Investigation Division 1, Detective KUMADA Tomekichi arrives from the Toyama Prefectural Police. KUMADA is disconcerted by Denbei's position that murderers nowadays do not need a plausible motive, but gradually adapts to Denbei's unusual methods of investigation.

Atami Murder Case

1986

Roaring Fire poster
6.5

On his death bed the man who raised Joji reveals that he is not his real father and that Joji’s real parents died tragically in a plane crash. Shortly thereafter Joji goes to Japan is search of his sister and his twin brother Toru. Joji’s quickly finds his sister Chihiro who is now blind and lives with their uncle. Joji one evening accidently over hears his uncle who has ties to the criminal underworld discussing his various illegal operations. Joji ‘s eavesdropping is discovered by his uncle who offers him a chance to join the organization. Joji promptly turns his uncle’s offer down which immediately puts his life in danger.

Roaring Fire

1981

The Second Is a Christian poster
6.0

The story of beautiful Christian nun, Kyoko who is the object of affection for two very different men - one the happy-go-lucky yakuza gangster, Haruhiko who is the next-in-line to takeover the ragtag "Tenryu Gumi" gang and the other bumbling police detective Kumashiro. The Tenryu Gumi is a collection of misfits and other troublemakers but are relatively peaceful due to their Christian beliefs. Their bitter rivals are the more traditional "Kuroiwa Gumi", a much more sadistic and violent group led by godfather Kuroiwa.

The Second Is a Christian

1985

Cabaret poster
4.8

A young jazz musician's desire to advance in his career runs afoul of organized crime in this thriller from Haruki Kadokawa. After a saxophonist starts playing at a particular nightspot, a thug from the Yakuza adopts him as a special friend for no greater reason than he plays one of his favorite songs well. As the dangerous life of the gangster intertwines with that of the musician, it brings harm to the musician's girlfriend, who is raped. This changes the young saxophonist's attitude about his patron, but his Yakuza "friend" is still too embroiled in his own problems to worry about anything else.

Cabaret

1986

Shanghai Rhapsody poster
7.0

Set in the 1930s in the international city of Shanghai, the film follows the extravagant life and times of a group of jazz musicians, living from one advance paycheck to the next, as the country teeters over the brink into the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Shanghai Rhapsody

1984

Kabamaru the Ninja Boy poster
5.7

Kabamaru is a young boy raised and trained by his grandfather as a ninja. After the sudden death of his grandfather, he starts living with Mai, his grandfather’s mistress, who is a school director. He is asked to help out on struggles against other schools, as he is master of the ninja mystical arts. As time passes he will make lots of friends as well as enemies, and fall in love with Mai.

Kabamaru the Ninja Boy

1983

Tora-san's Bluebird Fantasy poster
7.3

During his travels, Tora-san comes across a traditional theater he used to visit, and discovers that one of his old friends has died. Tora-san and his family help the friend's daughter, who becomes romantically involved with an aspiring artist.

Tora-san's Bluebird Fantasy

1986

Kotaro, An Audacious Karate Boy poster
6.5

Lewd, long-haired karate kid Kotaro Shindo spends his days causing amok at the prestigious Tsurugamine Academy, until the Disciplinary Committee decides enough is enough, and puts a bounty on his luscious locks. Meanwhile other sinister forces are working in the shadows to put Kotaro to use for their own ends.

Kotaro, An Audacious Karate Boy

1984

The Moon Mask Rider poster
6.5

The Moon Mask Rider is a tokusatsu movie produced by Purumie International/Herald Enterprises and distributed by Nippon Herald Pictures, was released theatrically on March 14, 1981. Considered Japan's answer to the American box-office fiasco, The Legend of the Lone Ranger (released the same year), this updated version of the Moonlight Mask legend bombed at the Japanese box-office. Daisuke Kuwahara (who, like Klinton Spilsbury , disappeared from doing films) plays George Owara (Moon Mask Rider's new alter-ego), and the rest of the cast made up of veteran action starlets: Sue Shihomi, Daijiro Harada and Takayuki Godai.

The Moon Mask Rider

1981

The Audition poster
NR

Four girls and their manager aiming for stardom!

The Audition

1984

Ninja Gangsters 2: The Lullaby of Hell poster
NR

The second in Norio Nanjo’s “Secret” series. The former secret phantom Sanzo (Hiroki Matsukata) and Yume no Gosuke (Ashiya Gannosuke), who escaped after clashing with their superiors, travel to the castle town of Kurume in Kyushu.

Ninja Gangsters 2: The Lullaby of Hell

1982

1970s · 26 titles

The Street Fighter poster
6.8

Takuma Tsurugi takes on the government, the police, the mafia and an international ring of kidnappers who aim to dispossess a beautiful young heiress of her millions.

The Street Fighter

1974

Sister Street Fighter: Fifth Level Fist poster
5.5

Kiku Nakakawa, the only daughter of an old kimono shop owner in Kyoto, is enthusiastic about karate. To help her friend Michi avenge her brother, she sneaks into a movie studio in Kyoto where a drug dealing syndicate is based.

Sister Street Fighter: Fifth Level Fist

1976

The Street Fighter's Last Revenge poster
5.5

Terry Sugury is hired to recover one of two tapes containing a formula for making heroin for a price of 200 dollars a pound. But he gets double crossed. So he wants the tape back.

The Street Fighter's Last Revenge

1974

Karate Warriors poster
6.8

Sakata protects a little boy while coping with rival gangs.

Karate Warriors

1976

The Bullet Train poster
6.9

A Japanese bullet train is threatened with a bomb that will explode automatically if the train slows below 80 km/h, unless a ransom is paid. Police race to find the bombers so the train crew can learn how to defuse the bomb.

The Bullet Train

1975

Shogun's Samurai: The Yagyu Clan Conspiracy poster
7.0

Following the death of the second Tokugawa shogun, it is revealed that he was poisoned by retainers of his son Iemitsu in hopes of gaining him the shogunate despite the stammer and birthmark which undermine his respect. Iemitsu and his brother Tadanaga become bitter rivals for the shogunate, and the land is split into factions, eventually erupting into warfare. Iemitsu's mentor, his fencing instructor Yagyu, is fixated upon securing Iemitsu the shogunate and ends up betraying everyone, even his own family, in pursuit of the goal.

Shogun's Samurai: The Yagyu Clan Conspiracy

1978

Bodyguard Kiba 2 poster
6.4

Kiba is back again, but this time he has fallen from grace and sent to prison for all the violent acts he has committed. Once he's out, he begins working as a bodyguard in a club that is crawling with gangsters.

Bodyguard Kiba 2

1973

The Killing Machine poster
5.6

Mr. Soh, a righteous man with a cold stare and fists of steel, returns to a lawless post-war Japan in 1946. He protects the weak, defends the poor and knocks some good sense into friends and enemies alike. Rapists and gangsters get the worst of it, as Mr. Soh builds up his school on the island of Shikoku.

The Killing Machine

1975

Soul of Chiba poster
6.5

This mid-1970s martial arts classic stars Sonny Chiba as Mu Yun Tek, a young man trained in the Thai fighting style since childhood to one day avenge his parents' death. When a fellow student kills their teacher, Mu Yun's thirst for vengeance grows. The brutal action never stops as Mu Yun teams up with an Interpol agent (Tadashi Yamashita) to find the culprit, who insists that their former master was a drug dealer who had to be destroyed.

Soul of Chiba

1977

Sister Street Fighter: Hanging by a Thread poster
6.4

Koryu heads to Yokohama in search of a woman named Birei, kidnapped by diamond smugglers who move their hot rocks by surgically implanting them into the nubile buttocks of Chinese prostitutes. Koryu's older sister, working as a jewelry designer, is secretly, if unhappily, involved with the gangsters.

Sister Street Fighter: Hanging by a Thread

1974

Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon poster
5.5

Duke Togo (codename: Golgo 13) is a ruthless assassin who's accepted a tricky assignment from an American drug syndicate. His mission is to "rub out" Hong Kong's underworld kingpin. His main obstacle is the relentless Detective 'Smitty' Smith, determined to stop Togo no matter the cost. The result is an explosive adventure through the seamy, violent streets of Hong Kong.

Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon

1977

Message from Space poster
5.9

The peaceful planet of Jillucia has been nearly wiped out by the Gavanas, whose leader takes orders from his mother rather than the Emperor. King Kaiba sends out eight Liabe holy seeds, each to be received by a chosen one to defend the Gavanas. Each recipient, ranging from hardened General Garuda to Gavana Prince Hans to young Terrans Meia, Kido, and Aaron all have different reactions to being chosen.

Message from Space

1978

Sister Street Fighter poster
6.6

Li Mansei is a martial-arts champion turned undercover agent. When he is captured by a drug lord, his sister Li Koryu turns to his former martial-arts school, including the powerful Sonny Kawasaka, for help in the inevitable battle royale.

Sister Street Fighter

1974

The Bodyguard poster
5.1

Karate master and anti-drug vigilante Chiba returns to his home in Japan, where he holds a press conference announcing his intention to wipe out the nation's drug industry. He also offers his services as a bodyguard to anyone who is willing to come forward and provide information about the drug lords' activities. He is soon approached by a mysterious woman claiming to have important information and asking for Chiba's protection. She seems to be legitimate, but is she really what she appears to be?

The Bodyguard

1973

The Return of Sister Street Fighter poster
6.5

When Koryu's childhood friend Shurei is abducted by gangsters, the desperate young woman recruits a female martial artist and a tough-as-nails stranger to join her for a dangerous rescue mission.

The Return of Sister Street Fighter

1975

The Adventures of Kosuke Kindaichi poster
6.4

Obayashi's take on the famous Kosuke Kindaichi series, made popular partly thanks to the numerous movie-adaptions by Kon Ichikawa, the most known being The Inugami Family. Kosuke Kindaichi is the most famous detective in Japan. Kindaichi gets a new case to figure out who has beheaded a valuable statue and made off with its head.

The Adventures of Kosuke Kindaichi

1979

The Decisive Power of Aikido poster
7.8

It is about the life of Ueshiba - the founder of aikido. We can see how he decided to develop aikido and how he did it. We can see why he developed aikido and where he has learned martial arts.

The Decisive Power of Aikido

1975

13 Steps of Maki: The Young Aristocrats poster
6.6

Maki is the leader of a female gang who fights for justice, but she ends up being framed and sent to a sadistic woman's prison. Will Maki be able to escape and take revenge?

13 Steps of Maki: The Young Aristocrats

1975

Karate Bullfighter poster
6.7

Sonny Chiba plays Kyokushin Karate founder Masutatsu Oyama, who unexpectedly arrives at a karate tournament in rags, but wins the tournament. After turning down the chance to fight at future tournaments he returns to his simple village life. He reluctantly returns to karate for a final showdown against the students of a rival school.

Karate Bullfighter

1975

The Executioner II: Karate Inferno poster
5.8

When both a priceless jewel and the daughter of a rich heiress are stolen by a master criminal, Koga and his gang are hired to retrieve both. But a double-cross leads to a risky high-security bank heist and loads of martial arts mayhem.

The Executioner II: Karate Inferno

1974

Festival Champ poster
5.3

Hiroki Matsukata is a fish market worker and a fanatical Japanese festival rascal. He also falls in love with a stripper while delivering his colleague's love letter to her but forgetting to mention it's from another man.

Festival Champ

1976

Dragon Princess poster
6.0

A karate master played by Sonny Chiba is attacked and left crippled and blinded in one eye. He trains his daughter with the intention of her avenging not only himself but a murdered friend.

Dragon Princess

1976

Black Jack: The Visitor in the Eye poster
6.2

Komori Chiaki is a budding tennis student. However, one day while training, her coach hits a ball into her eye on accident. At the hospital, the news that she will never regain the sight in her eye leaves her heartbroken. As a last resort, she undergoes a costly surgery from the mysterious doctor known as Black Jack, where after a successful operation, a mysterious figure starts to emerge in her vision, and only she can see it.

Black Jack: The Visitor in the Eye

1977

Murderous Love poster
NR

A 300 year old witch agrees to assassinate a dead-sick businessman and his ignorant sexy wife upon the former’s own request – the kills are to take place in separate locations at the same time. The granny then exits the same way she entered his office, with rope via 20th floor window! And it gets even better when you realize the granny is played by Sonny Chiba. Chiba soon takes his own handsome form and retreats to plan the hits with his karate killer sister...

Murderous Love

1973

The Great Chase poster
6.7

Shihomi Etsuko plays a race car driver who also lends out her services to the Japanese Secret Service. Although there really isn't much of a "chase" to be seen, Shihomi does pursue a cartel of drug runners and assorted Japanese yakuza types. While the story is pure 70's exploitation and gritty crime drama, the best reason to see it is for the Martial Arts Action of Etsuko Shihomi. The action is over-the-top and at times hilarious (i.e. Shihomi battling the lead criminal atop a moving gondola or Shihomi battling a whip-wielding Catholic Nun).

The Great Chase

1975

Peman 80 poster
NR

1980's Toho comedy

Peman 80

1979

Series credits

J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai poster
8.0

Cyborg warriors were created by the Special Science Investigation Squad to bear nuclear, gravitational, magnetic, and electrical forces. They fight the crime empire known as "Crime".

J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai

1977

Shadow Warriors poster
8.0

Shadow Warriors is a Japanese television jidaigeki show featuring Sonny Chiba that ran for four seasons in the early 1980s. Chiba played different ninja characters in each series. In the first series he played Hattori Hanzō III, in second one he played Tsuge Shinpachi, in the third one he played Tarao Hanzō, in the fourth series and in Bakumatsu Hen, he played Hattori Hanzō XV. In the 2003 direct-to-DVD series Shin Kage no Gundan he played Hattori Hanzō I.

Shadow Warriors

1980

Netchū Jidai poster
NR

This light-hearted comedy tells the story of a young man who chooses to become a teacher and struggles to live and grow in the field of education.

Netchū Jidai

1978

The Yagyu Conspiracy poster
7.7

It takes place at the time of the Shogunate rule with Shogun Hidetada and who will succeed Hidetada. A struggle for power between the family and the daimyos. Historically the Yagyu's have always been close to the Shogunate, and helped...

The Yagyu Conspiracy

1978

Yagyu Jubei Secret Quest poster
10.0

The sequel to The Yagyu Conspiracy picks up when Yagyu Jubei (Sonny Chiba) has a falling out with the Shogun, and sets out on his own as a wanted man. Featuring the martial art skills of Sue Shiomi (Sister Streetfighter) as she is on official patrol with Jubei watching over her, making sure that he gets to fight in each episode as well. This is one of the best and most exciting television series to ever hit the airwaves.

Yagyu Jubei Secret Quest

1982

Kikaida 01 poster
8.8

Kikaider 01, is a tokusatsu superhero TV series, and a sequel series to Android Kikaider. Produced by Toei Company Ltd., it was broadcast on NET from May 12, 1973 to March 30, 1974, with a total of 46 episodes. Its title in Hawaii is Kikaida 01.

Kikaida 01

1973

Ōedo Sōsamō poster
10.0

Set against the backdrop of the reign of the 11th Tokugawa Shogun, Ienari Tokugawa, this drama is a masterpiece of action period drama that broke the mold of traditional detective stories and attracted a great deal of attention.

Ōedo Sōsamō

1970

The Bodyguard poster
NR

Sonny Chiba stars as a member of a private bodyguard company.

The Bodyguard

1974

Daihijôsen poster
NR

An action detective drama depicting the activities of detectives belonging to a fictional department called the Fifth Investigation Division of the Metropolitan Police Department, commonly known as "Danger". From January to March 1976, a total of 10 episodes were broadcast on the NET (now TV Asahi) the leading role is Shinichi Chiba.

Daihijôsen

1976