Shibari (縛り) is a Japanese word meaning “to bind”. More specifically, the kanji 縛 conveys the concept of “to bind”. The kana り is used to conjugate the verb, but does not change the substance of the meaning.
The word “kinbaku” indicates only Japanese-style erotic bondage; the verb shibari is also used in everyday situations (tying shoelaces, for example). The Japanese call bondage both shibari and kinbaku, with small nuances of meaning.
Origins of shibari
Some practical circumstances favored the development of shibari in Japan. In this country, the act of binding is part of everyday life.
Traditional clothing has no buttons, but is fastened with bands of cloth. The handle of the katana, the typical Japanese sword, is made from a tied and woven band of cloth. Rope is used to mark off sacred areas in temples. We could go on and on with this list.
Before discussing shibari, we need to understand the development of its precursor: hojo-jutsu. This is a martial art that consists of immobilizing an opponent by means of one or more ropes.
The first traces of these techniques date back to the Muromachi era. More precisely, the first documents refer to the civil war of Onin, in 1467. This war gave rise to a long period of infighting, called the Sengoku era, which ended only in 1603.
The war efforts of this era gave great impetus to military technique and technology. For example, in this era the katana reached its iconic form. Similarly, hojo-jutsu was perfected to its maximum effectiveness.
Shibari: between suffering and shame
Because of the scarcity of raw materials, iron in Japan was used only when indispensable. In particular, the typical applications were two:
- The construction of agricultural tools
- The making of weapons
The importance of these two uses is clear. For any other application, poorer materials were preferred whenever possible. Rope became a useful tool for several purposes related to capturing priginiers:
- Transfer of prisoners at risk of escape
- Torture to obtain military information from prisoners of war, or confessions from ordinary prisoners
- Public exposure of wrongdoers as punishment
In the Japanese people, a connection between being bound and humiliation and suffering is beginning to be made. At the same time, we should not forget that even sacred areas are girded with a rope, and the most precious gifts are decorated with ritual knots.
As is often the case in Japanese culture, the same gesture or word can have very different meanings depending on the context. To some, this might suggest a similarity with shibari: when we tie someone up, we are creating for that person – and for us – a difficult, but also rewarding experience.
The First Seed of Shibari
In 1603 Ieyasu Tokugawa put an end to the Sengoku era, unifying all of Japan under his rule. The Tokugawa dynasty was in power until 1868. This period is known as the Edo era.
A central power also meant a single penal code. In the “100 Articles Code” of 1742, the shogunate established the permissible methods of obtaining a confession from a prisoner. These were four tortures that were performed in sequence:
- Flagellation.
- Cross-legged binding, with the neck near the ankles.
- Torture of the shins: the prisoner must kneel, sitting on his heels, over a board with several edges perpendicular to the shins; then stones are placed over the thighs to increase the pressure.
- Suspension with binding of the forearms, with the elbows bent.
Compared to the European tortures practiced by, for example, the Inquisition, Japanese tortures were much slower. The purpose of this slowness was to induce a psychological breakdown in the prisoner. Modern shibari inherits the slow progression from these techniques, although the purpose is completely different.
Today, the slow progression allows the bound person to eroticize the suffering that grows as it grows. Sharp, sudden pain is more likely to be annoying than erotic.
The birth of the aesthetics of Shibari
In addition to producing a single penal code, the political stability of the Edo period contributed to a renewal of the arts. It was the golden age of ukiyo-e, a type of painting that represented at first mainly scenes of normal city life. With the passage of time also appeared other subjects.
Among others, the following are of particular importance for the birth of the kinbaku aesthetic:
- the shunga, erotic representations
- the seme-e, representations of scenes of torture and constriction
The two genres often touched, and the scenes of constraint included elements of eroticism and vice versa. In this way a taste was formed that a few centuries later became what we call today shibari.
The Kabuki Theatre
After the end of the Edo period, in 1868, Emperor Matsuhito began a profound renewal of Japan. Torture was banned from the judicial system, but it continued to be part of Japanese popular culture through kabuki theater.
At the time, kabuki was a form of street theater, replete with scenes of chase, fight, and torture done with ropes. The actors were all men, but it was often necessary to portray bound women. Typical shibari patterns were born during this period, to obtain a female form from a male body.
It is more common today to see shibari practiced on a female body. Even more so, many typical bindings place even more emphasis on a woman’s form.
Ito Seiu: father of shibari
In 1896, Ito Seiu saw a torture scene during a kabuki performance. It involved three Japanese nurses being tied up and tortured by the enemy to obtain military information.
At just fourteen years old, Ito was thunderstruck by the aesthetics of suffering, particularly the beauty of disheveled hair.
He was a prolific painter in many genres, but the ecstatic expression of female characters in moments of suffering was one of the main subjects of his art.
Around 1930, Ito published several photographs of bound women. The ropes are entirely marginal. His focus was on the face and the disheveled hair. Many photos were even simple sketches for later pictorial work.
In any case Ito Seiu is fundamental. He is the first historical figure of whom we can say with certainty that he bound his models.
Birth of modern shibari: Kitan Club and other magazines
In 1945 Japan was defeated in World War II. This created a climate of cultural despondency in the following years. In the ’50s and ’60s, the first “pulp” magazines were born. The most famous were Kitan Club and Uramado. In the same years John Willie published Bizarre in America. Many photographs show a mutual influence between American and Japanese bondage in that era.
Initially printed on low-quality paper, these magazines contained vaguely erotic tales with scenes of restraint. The public liked them and so illustrations and eventually photographs were included. Just these photos are the earliest evidence of what we can call shibari in the modern sense.
The birth of the two strands of shibari
While making photographs for magazines, Minomura Kou realized that it was not only the visual result of the finished ligature that was of interest. He realized that the interaction of the two people during the shibari session could also be impactful.
On the other hand, Osada Eikichi began performing in public, and developed a new set of techniques, which he felt were better suited to shibari performances in the presence of an audience.
The legends of shibari
In the 80s both strands had great success. The work of Nureki Chimuo was inspired by that of Minomura Kou and in many ways surpassed it.
Nureki continued to focus on the relationship between the two people during the shibari session, and introduced in the kinbaku also an element of challenge for the body. In fact, we must keep in mind that Minomura Kou focused almost exclusively on the shame of the bound person. Also Master Yukimura Haruki interpreted shibari in the same way.
On the other hand, Akechi Denki perfected performance techniques, creating extremely high-tension bondage shows for his audiences. He made use of very fast position changes, frightening falls, and moments of great brutality.
The shibari in the new millennium
The students of these legends are still alive today. Naka Akira continues the work of Nureki, Osada Steve follows in the footsteps of Osada Eikichi. Nawashi Kanna continues the work begun by Akechi Denki.
Each of the two strands develops, either refining its own characteristics or taking a cue from the other. Modern shibari masters often have studied with more than one teacher, and interpret the elements of all of them in their own way.
Nowadays, teaching has actually changed a lot. We have gone from handing down knowledge from master to student in an almost esoteric way, to shibari courses with dozens of students. On the one hand this makes it less easy to pass certain subtleties between master and student, on the other exponentially increases the number of practitioners.
A greater number of practitioners leads to a faster evolution of the technique and a rapid improvement of the safety criteria.