Since the earliest days of western shibari, myths and misconceptions have abounded. When I started, around 20 years ago, there was next to no information available, even if you were able to speak or read Japanese, which I don’t. Back then, the closest we had to an English language guide was Midori’s ‘Seductive Art of Japanese Bondage’. Whilst it presented more what I’d now call fusion or Japanese style bondage, it was ground-breaking in that it talked about connection and projecting dominance, not just restraint and pretty patterns. Midori was very influential in my early adoption of these concepts which I summed up with my mantra of ‘tying people, not parcels’. A couple of decades later and it still stands up as a very good book, albeit not one for purists who wish to follow the styles of the grandmasters.
My only other recollection from the very early days was of the late Hans Miejer’s ‘Shibari Fumo Ryu’ series of e-books. However, it seems that these were a mixture of fact and fantasy, with fumo ryu being his own invention. I’m not sure if these e-books can still be found, should your curiosity be piqued, as his web site PowerErotics is now defunct.
Fast forward a couple of decades and we have a lot more accurate information. However, much disinformation still circulates despite much more contact with Japanese experts and further research by westerners.
The facts
The real facts are not easy to find, not least because areas of sexuality tended to be more private in days gone by. However, the source I most respect is NuitDeTokyo, as he’s known on Fetlife. NdeT is total kinbaku and Japanese SM otaku (I guess you could roughly translate that as geek/obsessive) who lived in Tokyo for many years. He has an extensive library of books on these subjects, a jaw-dropping collection of kinbaku art and rubs shoulders with many of Japan’s rope gods. I hugely respect his knowledge, regarding him as something of an oracle. For this reason and to correct some myths, some of which I have been guilty of perpetuating, I am reproducing a post he made recently on Fetlife entitled ‘On a recent article on Shibari in Shape ‘What to know about shibari’‘:
“Some people have pointed me in the direction of the following article written by Alex Shea on the Shape website titled “What to know about shibari” and I am taking the liberty of making a few remarks as there are simply too many errors, to the point where one could think that the errors are intentional…
” Shibari draws on Hojojutsu ” : this is an incorrect statement, this statement has been known to be incorrect for a long time although discussions have surfaced again recently following a post by Nawashi Kanna and Kagura
“Hojojutsu, a martial art used by the Samurai … and often torture prisoners “: this is an incorrect statement, first because Hojojutsu is not related to torture in Japan, second because Samurai, belonging to a very small class of society, avoided as much as possible interacting physically with commoners.
“prisoners were intricately tied according to their crime ” : this is an incorrect statement, prisoners in hojojutsu were tied according to their rank in society.
“Shibari began to spread and become more popular when it made its way to Europe and the America in the early 1900s, near WWII” : beyond the fact that situating WWII in the early 1900s is « interesting », there is to the best of my knowledge no significant popularity of shibari in Europe or the America before the mid 90s, with the first show in Amsterdam by Akechi Denki in 1997.
There is also in the article the usual « you know shibari is not about sex really… it is about aesthetics… » but discussing this one would generate a lot of ill feelings in some quarters of the anti-sex brigade…so I will pass…I guess no-sex gives you a discount on certain websites…
But to be honest, the most annoying part of the article is that it provides a list of recommended “rope artists and education sources”.
And in that list, there is not a single Japanese rope artist…
So I am waiting for the article on Jazz without a single black American musician mentioned …
In the meantime, if you allow me, I will point readers to some imho recommended Japanese living rope artists, by date of birth :
Arisue Go
Naka Akira
Kazami Ranki
Nawashi Kanna
Himuro Eve
Hajime Kinoko
Hourai Kasumi
Yagami Ren
And I will also note that all of them, without exception, and some famous ones now departed, Osada Eikichi, Akechi Denki, Nureki Chimuo, Yukimura Haruki, have all worked for the adult industry.
Which reminds me, when mentioning Osada Eikichi, that the one person continuing his name Osada Steve, who also studied with Akechi Denki and Yukimura Haruki and has been in Japan since the early 90s is here on FL…
So finally it could well be that shibari is about sex, you never know…
Cheers,
NdT”
I strongly recommend reading the entire thread as it contains a lot more discussion and informative replies. If you’d like to learn from Osada Steve, he has a selection of tutorials on ShibariClasses.
