A red-headed woman walks along the motorway. A refuse truck passes. One of those inside, Kozo, invites the woman back to his home. She stays the night. The woman is having her period and in the end they make love while her tampon is still in. Later the woman reveals that she has fled her husband and sons, but she won’t say her name. Kozo and his colleague Takao take turns having sex with Kazuko, the daughter of their boss. The jealous Takao also wants sex with the red-head. Kozo suffers in silence as he sees the woman enjoy Takao’s caresses. Kozo looks for a bar where he meets the prostitute Haruko, who tells him that a hard penis doesn’t discriminate. Akai kami no onna took fourth place in the top ten of the magazine Kinema Jumpo and is regarded as one of Kumashiro’s best films. Kumashiro: ‘In the West a woman with red hair is regarded as voluptuous. I see her more as the old goddess of dance and music as seen in Kojiki (‘The Record of Ancient Matters’) and Nihon Shoki (‘Chronicle of Japan’). So in the end I wanted her to represent the passiveness of the Japanese woman.’
