“Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41” (女囚さそり 第41雑居房), Original Release Japanese Movie Poster 1972, B2 Size (51 × 73 cm) Q203
Sale price$175.00
This is an original Japanese B2 poster printed in 1972 for the first theatrical release of Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 (女囚さそり 第41雑居房), the second film in Toei’s legendary Female Prisoner Scorpion / Sasori cycle. Directed by Shunya Itō and starring Meiko Kaji in one of the defining roles of 1970s Japanese cinema, the film remains one of the most celebrated and visually inventive entries in the series.
Now regarded as a landmark of Japanese cult cinema, Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 helped establish Sasori as one of Japan’s most enduring exploitation-era screen icons. Fierce, stylised, and uncompromising, the film stands at the intersection of revenge cinema, pop-art design, and radical 1970s genre filmmaking.
Film background Following the breakout success of Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion, this second instalment deepened the mythology of Nami Matsushima / Sasori, played with extraordinary presence by Meiko Kaji. Branded prisoner 701 and pursued by a brutal patriarchal system, Sasori emerges as a near-mythic avenger: silent, relentless, and impossible to break.
Directed again by Shunya Itō, the film is widely admired for pushing the women-in-prison genre into far more stylised and expressionistic territory. It blends violence, revenge, surreal imagery, and formal experimentation in a way that has made it a lasting cult favourite both in Japan and abroad. Among collectors and film historians alike, the Sasori films are prized not only for their impact as exploitation classics, but also for their extraordinary visual intelligence and lasting influence on later genre cinema.
Poster design This poster features phenomenal manga-style artwork, one of the most arresting Japanese poster designs of the period. Dominating the composition is a towering illustrated portrait of Meiko Kaji as prisoner 701, her long hair flowing and her prison garment torn into strips, creating an image that is both sensual and defiant. The central figure is set against a stark black ground, framed by a vivid blue border, giving the design exceptional graphic force.
Behind her, a red scorpion silhouette unfurls like an emblem or threat, visually binding the heroine to the Sasori identity. Around the figure, sharp fragments of Japanese promotional copy heighten the sense of urgency and rebellion, while the lower section carries the film’s title 女囚さそり 第41雑居房 in bold stylised type. The result is a poster of enormous presence: spare, aggressive, and unmistakably modern.
A particularly important detail is the credit at lower right to 篠原とおる (Tōru Shinohara), creator of the original manga, whose visual language profoundly shaped the identity of the series. The design captures exactly what makes Sasori so collectible: pop-art intensity, female fury, and a uniquely Japanese graphic sensibility.
Condition Very Good / Excellent. Please review the photos—they show the exact poster for sale.
This poster is an original Japanese theatrical B2 from the 1972 first-release campaign. It is not a reproduction or a reprint.
