Hitomi Kobayashi

Hitomi Kobayashi
小林ひとみ
Born
Yukari Ishii

(1965-09-02) September 2, 1965 (age 59)[1]
Tokyo, Japan[2]
Other namesQueen of AV
Height1.51 m (4 ft 11 in)[2]
Spouse
Toshifumi Yuzawa
​
(m. 1987)​

Hitomi Kobayashi (Japanese: 小林ひとみ, Hepburn: Kobayashi Hitomi) is an important early Japanese AV idol. One of the founding figures of the Japanese adult video, she has been called indispensable to any discussion of the AV.[3][4] Mainichi Shimbun calls her "one of the icons of Japanese adult cinema history."[5] Her unprecedented popularity in the mid-1980s, the early days of the Japanese AV, earned her the title "Queen of AV."[6][7][8] According to an adult entertainment reporter for Shukan Shincho, "She laid the foundations for the golden age of adult video."[9]

After making her debut as a non-pornographic photobook and "image video" model, Kobayashi entered the AV field in 1986.[5] Because of her rapid popularity, Nikkatsu, Japan's leading producer of softcore pornography at the time, hired her to appear in theatrical films in 1987.[8] After marriage and a semi-retirement beginning in 1989, Kobayashi fully returned to the AV industry in 1998. She announced her retirement in 2003 with a big-budget, though controversial, two-volume farewell adult video.[10]

  1. ^ AVチャンネル 小林ひとみ 詳細情報 (in Japanese)
  2. ^ a b "Hitomi Kobayashi". xcity.jp/idol. Retrieved October 21, 2010.
  3. ^ "1986" (in Japanese). homepage3.nifty.com/kurokami/index.html AV 研究所 (AV Research Laboratory). Archived from the original on June 16, 2011. Retrieved July 21, 2007.
  4. ^ "Topaz". xcity.jp/idol. Retrieved October 21, 2010. We cannot talk about AV without her. She is a legend of AV. She is like a founder of the AV world
  5. ^ a b "Legs open way to 6 billion yen career". Mainichi Shimbun. December 13, 2003. Retrieved October 9, 2007.[dead link]
  6. ^ "Legs open way to 6 billion yen career". Mainichi Shimbun. December 13, 2003. Retrieved October 9, 2007. Astounding sales of her works in the formative years of the VHS era made her the ruler of the adult video world and led to her being dubbed as the 'AV Queen.'[dead link]
  7. ^ "Porno queen seeks investors' plug as she goes out with a bang". Mainichi Shimbun. July 18, 2003. Retrieved October 9, 2007. Hitomi Kobayashi, long hailed as Japan's Queen of Adult Video...[dead link]
  8. ^ a b Weisser, Thomas; Yuko Mihara Weisser (1998). Japanese Cinema Encyclopedia: The Sex Films. Miami: Vital Books: Asian Cult Cinema Publications. pp. 222. ISBN 1-889288-52-7. ...the AV Queen Hitomi Kobayashi...
  9. ^ "Porno queen seeks investors' plug as she goes out with a bang". Mainichi Shimbun. July 18, 2003. Retrieved October 9, 2007.[dead link]
  10. ^ "Porn star blows wads pumping out final flop". Mainichi Shimbun. March 25, 2004. Retrieved October 9, 2007.[dead link]