, is a former Japanese

AV Idol An or is a type of pornographic film actress in Japan. It is a sub-category of the idol culture in Japanese pop entertainment. AV idols work in the pornographic business, often both as an actress as well as a model as the video performances ...

, gravure idol and erotic dancer who has been described as a "real AV Queen", the "top Japanese AV idol of the mid-1990s" and the "biggest star" in AV in 1992. She has also appeared widely in mainstream films and videos and on TV.

Life and career

Rui Sakuragi was born on March 8, 1970. After having previously been a "gravure" (non-sex) model, she made her adult video (AV) debut for the

VIP A very important person or personage (VIP or V.I.P.) is a person who is accorded special privileges due to their high social status, influence or importance. The term was not common until sometime after World War 2 by RAF pilots. Examples incl ...

label in April 1989 under the name Masako Ichinose but took the name Rui Sakuragi the following year. She sometimes worked for other studios but VIP (and its successor

Atlas21 , formerly known as VIP, is a Japanese adult video company with headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. Company information VIP The AV company was founded in June 1981 and issued its first video, titled , in December of that same year making it one of t ...

) was her main label for the next two years. Her work for them included a seven-man orgy in ''Golden Pavilion Temple 2'' and

cosplay Cosplay, a portmanteau of "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character. Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture, ...

in ''The Uniform Connection Special''. Sakuragi announced that her April 1992 release for

, ''The Last of Rui Sakuragi'' would be her final work and left with a tearful farewell. According to a 1992 article, whereas an attractive leading lady in AV could command 1.5 to 2 million yen (about $10,000 to $15,000) for a video, "Sakuragi, the biggest star at present" made 3 million yen (more than $20,000) per project. Although Sakuragi had married just before her retirement, she became bored with her new lifestyle and started working as a stripper in clubs throughout Japan. Almost four years later, divorced, and in need of money, Sakuragi returned to AV with a contract with Atlas21 for three videos beginning with ''Phoenix Once Again'' in March 1996. After the third video, ''Super AV Idol Legend'', fan response convinced her to do a fourth and final film, ''Good Bye Rui Sakuragi''. Since her retirement, Atlas21, Kuki, and Alice Japan have all released compilations of her earlier videos. During her AV career and after her retirement, Sakuragi also worked extensively in mainstream movies and softcore

pink film in its broadest sense includes almost any Japanese theatrical film that includes nudity (hence 'pink') or deals with sexual content. This encompasses everything from dramas to action thrillers and exploitation film features. The Western equiv ...

and

V-Cinema Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was p ...

productions. In February 1992 she appeared in ''Sakuragi Rui: Gushonure Kahanshin'', directed by the noted pink film woman director

Sachi Hamano a.k.a. ''and'' (born March 19, 1948), is a Japanese film director. She is the most prolific and written-about female '' pink film'' director. Life and career Sachi Hamano was born as Sachiko Suzuki in Tokushima Prefecture on March 19, 1948. W ...

. Another early movie was the March 1992 , a drama of romance and revenge set in the Parisian fashion industry where she co-starred with

Kayo Matsuo is a Japanese actress. Partial filmography # '' Endless Desire'' (''Hateshinaki yokubo'', 1958) # '' My Second Brother'' (''Nianchan'', 1959) # '' Hikaru umi'' (1963) # '' Gate of Flesh'' (''Nikutai no mon'', 1964) # '' Story of a Prostitute'' ( ...

. She also had a leading role in an episode of the long-running TV drama ''Kaseifu ha mita'' (家政婦は見た!) broadcast by

TV-Asahi JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as (also known as EX and and stylized as TV asahi), is a television station that is owned and operated by the subsidiary of certified broadcasting holding company , itself controlled by The Asahi Shimbun Compan ...

on December 4, 1997. Later, she was a regular on the

NTV NTV may refer to: Television * NTV (Bangladesh), a Bengali-language satellite television channel in Bangladesh * NTV (India), Telugu regional channel * NTV (Kenya) * NTV (Mongolia), a television channel based in Mongolia * NTV (Newport Television) ...

love story/suspense drama ''Tsumetai tsuki'' (冷たい月) which ran in 10 episodes from January to March 1998. In 2002, she had a voice role in the

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

erotic-horror film ''Youjuu Kyoushitsu Chapter 2'' (Demon Beast Invasion Chapter 2) with another former AV Idol, Riria Yoshikawa.

Notes

Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sakuragi, Rui 1970 births Japanese pornographic film actresses Japanese female adult models Pink film actors Living people