Kumashiro is one of the most important Japanese directors of the 1970’s, famous for his roman porno films. He grew up in a family of samurai descent and in his teenage years rebelled against tradition and his strict father, spending time reading Western literature and watching films. In 1945, he started to study medicine, but only to avoid the draft. After WW II he enrolled in the Waseda University in Tokyo and studied English literature. In 1952, he passed the test for becoming an assistant director in the Shochiku film studio. Three years later, he transferred to Nikkatsu where he worked as an assistant director and screenwriter. At the same studio he directed his debut film Kaburitsuki jinsei (1968). However, that was a time when the film industry was stagnating and the Nikkatsu studio was on a verge of bankruptcy, so in 1971, a decision was made to devote all the energies of the studio to the mass production of the roman porno genre (short for “romantic pornography”). Faced with a choice between working for television or staying in Nikkatsu, Kumashiro decided on the latter and his first film of the roman porno genre, Nureta kuchibiru (1972), became equally successful with audiences and critics. His films popularized the genre while simultaneously bearing a strong authorial mark: Ichijo's Wet Lust (Ichijo Sayuri: Nureta yokujo, 1972), Lovers Are Wet (Koibito-tachi wa nureta, 1973), World of Geisha (Yojôhan fusuma no urabari, 1973), Street of Joy (Akasen tamanoi: Nukeraremasu, 1974) and A Woman With Red Hair (Akai kami no onna, 1979). Occasionally he made films outside of the roman porno genre such as Bitterness of Youth (Seishun no satetsu, 1974.), Africa's Light (Afurika no hikari, 1975) i Hell (Jigoku, 1979).