In 1969 she appeared in Nihon Zankyoden, one of a series of films directed by Masahiro Makino, who recognized her acting ability and provided her with the stage name of Meiko Kaji.
In 1973 she starred in Lady Snowblood directed by Toshiya Fujita and distributed by Toho, a revenge film set in late 1800s Japan based on the manga of the same name, where she played the deadly assassin Yuki.
She went on to appear in several of Kinji Fukasaku's films, such as Yakuza Graveyard in 1976 and in 1978 starred in Sonezaki Shinjū, where she earned nominations for Best Actress at five different award shows, winning four of them.
In 2022, she appeared in the 2022 Amazon Prime Video anthology series Modern Love Tokyo for the episode "Nursing My Son, and Some Grievances".
In 2011, Kaji released her first new album in 31 years, Aitsu no suki-so-na burūsu (あいつの好きそなブルース)[10] with songs written by Ryudo Uzaki and Yoko Aki.