Viva Brighton Issue #48 February 2017

THE LOWDOWN ON...
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Shibari
The Japanese art of bondage
I’ve been tying for almost five years, since I was
18. I started out in bedroom bondage, and quickly
became more interested in the aesthetics of Shibari.
I’ve focused since then on learning as much as
possible from as many skilled people as possible,
like Esinem in London, and a few Japanese masters.
People define Shibari in many different ways,
starting with the name; it can also be called Kinbaku.
We think of it as rope bondage with a Japanese
aesthetic, focusing on the connection between
rope top and rope bottom. ‘Tops’ are the people
administering rope, ‘bottoms’ are the people being
tied, and ‘switches’ will do both at different times.
Or sometimes people will self-tie and suspend. It
can be anything from a meditative session to something
purely aesthetic, BDSM-orientated, entirely
sexual/erotic, or a mix of the above.
My partner Kimokawaii (pictured) has been
tying with me since 2014. We started performing
together, but we took a huge leap in November
2015 when Kimokawaii had a massive stroke, and
we began using bondage as a means of recovery.
Now we use it to show that bondage can be done by
anyone, and that sexuality amongst disabled people
should not be a taboo.
Anyone can learn to tie or be tied. The most important
thing is that it is done with someone you
trust. It’s paramount for safety that people learn in
increments, starting with basic knots, moving to
tying on the floor, then to learning different ties,
and using other harnesses. Only after a year or so of
hard work, when a top and bottom are both confident
in those things, should they move on to partial
suspension and then progress to full suspension,
which, while beautiful, needs a high level of skill.
If you are just tying on the floor, all that you
need is four or so lengths of rope and some safety
shears (for emergencies). We use a set of 15 ropes
(four strong lines for suspension, eleven for tying
the body), a set of shears, something to suspend
off of (either a large bamboo pole, or a wooden or
metal ring) and a very strong rope to hold our suspension
point.
Some of the rope that was available when we
started was of high quality, but we thought we
could make something better. We don’t like to
reveal everything we do, but the basic process
involves raw waxing, steaming, oiling, singeing,
frictioning, and polishing our ropes, and some
of those more than once. As a result they are
extremely low friction, and end up with a very
smooth fine feeling, a distinctive scent, and, most
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