# A Taxing Woman (マルサの女)
**A Taxing Woman** (マルサの女, *Marusa no onna*) is a 1987 Japanese comedy-suspense film directed and written by Juzo Itami, following a female investigator of the National Tax Agency's criminal investigation division (the Special Investigation Bureau, known by the nickname "Marusa") as she pursues a wealthy tax evader.[1](https://eiga.com/movie/39539/) It was Itami's third feature, after *The Funeral* and *[Tampopo](https://www.edgepedia.org/tampopo)*, and became a major hit described as a social phenomenon.[2](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/pdf/150033) • [3](https://www.cinematoday.jp/ent/movie-a-taxing-woman/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Japanese title | マルサの女 (*Marusa no onna*); English title *A Taxing Woman*[4](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=17786) |
| Release | February 27, 1987; 127 minutes; distributed by Toho[1](https://eiga.com/movie/39539/) • [4](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=17786) |
| Director and writer | Juzo Itami, his third film as director[2](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/pdf/150033) |
| Lead cast | Nobuko Miyamoto as investigator Ryoko Itakura; Tsutomu Yamazaki as tax evader Gondo; Masahiko Tsugawa as her superior Hanamura[1](https://eiga.com/movie/39539/) |
| Awards | Six Japan Academy Prizes at the 11th awards (1988), including Picture, Director, Screenplay, Lead Actor, Lead Actress, and Music[5](https://eiga-pop.com/movie/4726) |
| Music | Toshuyuki Honda; the theme tune is frequently cited by viewers as memorable[1](https://eiga.com/movie/39539/) • [6](https://filmarks.com/movies/431) |
| Sequel | *A Taxing Woman 2* (マルサの女2), released January 1988; the only series Itami made[7](https://itami-kinenkan.jp/about/about04.html) • [8](https://itami-kinenkan.jp/tayori/2008/12/000044.html) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and characters
Ryoko Itakura, a bob-haired, freckled tax office investigator with a reputation for exhaustively digging into tax evasion, sets her sights on a love hotel whose owner, Gondo Hideki, refuses to give anything away. Her work earns her promotion to the National Tax Agency's Special Investigation Bureau, the Marusa, where she trains as an uncovering specialist and, teamed with her superior Hanamura, confronts Gondo again.[1](https://eiga.com/movie/39539/) • [9](https://itami-kinenkan.jp/about/movie03.html)
The National Film Archive of Japan describes the film as a duel between the Marusa and tax evaders, with Yamazaki's Gondo a "tax king" who is unscrupulous yet richly human, and praises the ensemble cast's airtight acting and Itami's detail-rich, action-film-paced direction.[10](https://www.nfaj.go.jp/program/japanese1980s202101-29/) The supporting cast includes Tsugawa, Yasuo Daichi, Ittoku Kishibe, Hideji Otaki, Shinji Asakusa-era veterans such as Akira Nakamura's colleagues Kin Sugai's contemporaries, and, among named roles, a linen-service president played by B-saku Sato and a pachinko-parlor president played by Jiro Ito.[1](https://eiga.com/movie/39539/) • [9](https://itami-kinenkan.jp/about/movie03.html)
### Sequel and afterlife
*A Taxing Woman 2* followed in January 1988, again written and directed by Itami with Miyamoto and Tsugawa; the two films are the only series in his filmography.[7](https://itami-kinenkan.jp/about/about04.html) • [8](https://itami-kinenkan.jp/tayori/2008/12/000044.html) A 108-minute making-of documentary, *Marusa no Onna o Marusa Suru*, was directed by Masayuki Suo and is included as a bonus on the DVD.[15](https://img-lib.musabi.ac.jp/search/document/detail/15947)
The film remains in circulation through 4K digital remaster broadcasts, including a 2025 Japanese Movie Channel marathon of Itami's films in 4K, though as of late 2025 it was not available on major Japanese streaming services and could be rented on DVD through TSUTAYA DISCAS.[16](https://www.nihon-eiga.com/timetable/pdf/202511.pdf) • [3](https://www.cinematoday.jp/ent/movie-a-taxing-woman/)
## Research and the "Marusa" setting
The title refers to the nickname of the National Tax Agency's criminal investigation division, written with the circled character 〇査 ("maru-sa"); the film brought a little-known profession to public attention.[2](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/pdf/150033) • [11](https://pamphlet-uchuda.com/4270/) To build the script, Itami interviewed serving and former inspection-division officials, tax office investigators, supervising officers, office heads, and tax accountants about tax-evasion uncovering, and separately interviewed people across pachinko, love hotels, real estate, finance, and economic yakuza circles to fix the details of evasion techniques. The result was a script packed with the extraordinary density of information characteristic of his films.[9](https://itami-kinenkan.jp/about/movie03.html)
The setting also entered professional discourse. A lecture by a former tax office chief recalls that in the late Showa era, as the film depicted, cash, hidden ledgers, bank passbooks, and seals served as evidence in tax evasion cases, alongside fraud involving land and stock transactions.[12](https://showahoujinkai.jp/files/kouhou_pdf/kaihou212_202601.pdf)
## Reception and awards
At the 11th Japan Academy Prizes (1988), the film took the top prizes in six categories: Picture, Director, Screenplay, Lead Actor (Tsutomu Yamazaki), Lead Actress (Nobuko Miyamoto), and Music.[5](https://eiga-pop.com/movie/4726) • [13](https://www.rnb.co.jp/media/marusanoonna/) Contemporary and later viewers single out the acting, the pleasure of the evader-versus-tax-office duel, and the film's ability to turn a dry subject into entertainment; on Filmarks it holds a 3.7 average across more than 15,000 user ratings.[6](https://filmarks.com/movies/431)
Miyamoto, Itami's wife, played the trademark bob-haired heroine; reviewers have noted her unadorned charm in the role.[1](https://eiga.com/movie/39539/) • [14](https://eiga.com/movie/39539/review/)
## References
1. [マルサの女：作品情報・キャスト・あらすじ, 映画.com](https://eiga.com/movie/39539/)
2. [マルサの女（1987）, allcinema](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/pdf/150033)
3. [映画「マルサの女」の配信｜無料動画が見れるサブスク徹底調査！, シネマトゥデイ](https://www.cinematoday.jp/ent/movie-a-taxing-woman/)
4. [マルサの女：作品情報・映画レビュー, KINENOTE](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=17786)
5. [マルサの女：解説・レビュー・評価, 映画ポップコーン](https://eiga-pop.com/movie/4726)
6. [マルサの女：映画情報・レビュー・評価, Filmarks映画](https://filmarks.com/movies/431)
7. [伊丹十三記念館：監督としての略歴](https://itami-kinenkan.jp/about/about04.html)
8. [伊丹十三記念館 記念館便り：新企画展特集「メイキング オブ『マルサの女』」](https://itami-kinenkan.jp/tayori/2008/12/000044.html)
9. [伊丹十三記念館：作品詳細「マルサの女」](https://itami-kinenkan.jp/about/movie03.html)
10. [1980年代日本映画――試行と新生-29, 国立映画アーカイブ](https://www.nfaj.go.jp/program/japanese1980s202101-29/)
11. [『マルサの女』レビュー, 映画パンフは宇宙だ](https://pamphlet-uchuda.com/4270/)
12. [昭和税務署長記念講演会『査察と社会の変化から税を考える』](https://showahoujinkai.jp/files/kouhou_pdf/kaihou212_202601.pdf)
13. [映画「マルサの女」配信まとめ, RNBエンタメディア](https://www.rnb.co.jp/media/marusanoonna/)
14. [マルサの女 レビュー・感想・評価, 映画.com](https://eiga.com/movie/39539/review/)
15. [マルサの女, 武蔵野美術大学 美術館・図書館 イメージライブラリー](https://img-lib.musabi.ac.jp/search/document/detail/15947)
16. [日本映画専門チャンネル 2025年11月番組表](https://www.nihon-eiga.com/timetable/pdf/202511.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of the 1980s › Satirical, black, and parody comedies of the 1980s*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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