Introduction
We can trace the beginning of our explorations in Japanese style rope bondage, often referred to as shibari or kinbaku, to Christmas 2016 when we purchased a set of 6 Okinawa Jute shibari ropes from Esinem-Rope. What we learned from our early experimentation is that if we were serious about doing this properly, we would need to make an effort with some structured learning.
Mostly this learning has centred around Esinem's Shibari Classes website (and this free Bondage Safety video would be a great introduction to get a flavour of the teaching style) and later, on Shin Nawakiri's book Essence of Shibari. I'm confident those two resources have got us off to a very positive start in a kink that is rife with pitfalls. Added to that, you have the additional factor of Western bondage styles that are frequently misrepresented as Japanese rope technique.
As our learning progressed we thought it would be fun to create some sort of rope journal where we could look back and review areas that needed more practise, and other ideas for improvements. Having realised that nobody wants to hear about time spent tying frictions onto the back of an office chair while Judy catches up on the Eastenders ominbus, we eventually plumped for a "photo-a-week" project; much to everyone's relief! ;-)
The plan was to come up with 52 themes (being flexible and allowing it to evolve if needed) and every week featuring a photo of something we'd tried that week. The timing of this idea fitted perfectly with making a start at the beginning of January 2018, and hence we began our Kinbaku52 project.
Below we have provided a link to each week of the project. Our pick of five favourite photographs follows immediately afterwards.
First Quarter Archive
- 1. Somerville Bowline (Carrick Bend)
- 2. Somerville Bowline Directionality
- 3. Wide Single Columns
- 4. Single Column for Two
- 5. Somerville Double Column Tie
- 6. Crossed Double Column Tie
- 7. Crossed Hands Upper Body Tie
- 8. Adding a Second Column
- 9. Frictions and Complexity
- 10. Cross Friction and Twisted Cross Friction
- 11. Joining Two Ropes
- 12. Crossed Ankles Futomomo
- 13. Crossed Ankles Bedroom Hogtie
And now, on to our five favourite photographs so far. As they say on TV, these are in no particular order, but unlike on TV, we'll have no stupid delays in between! ;-)
Our Top Five
We'll start with this monochrome image, showing the impressions left from a spiral futomomo tie. This comes from week 3, Wide Single Columns. It's a moment of relaxation while the ropes were untied and I loved the caress of finngertips against rope.
In the next photograph we see a mains powered magic wand trapped within one of my favourite leg-lacing techniques. I like the softness of the focus and the exposure of the control dial which the wand's victim is helpless to adjust. ;-) This image comes from week 5 and our look at the Somerville Double Column Tie.
Back to monochrome again for our next pick; this comes from week 6, Crossed Double Column Tie. Something about the black and white conversion gives an almost silvery quality to the photo. I loved the vintage feel and the delicate touch.
A gentle colour cast in the image below comes from a cross-processing effect applied while editing. To me it conveyed a sense of warmth and intimacy. This photo comes from week 8 and our look at Adding a Second Column.
And finally, we come to this image from week 13, Crossed Ankles Bedroom Hogtie. Apart from the monochrome post-processing, this image has not been edited. The soft focus comes from a prime lens being wide open at f1.4 and positioned close to the rope. I found the softness of Judy, cross-legged in the background, highly erotic, but subtle enough to require no additional censorship.
Those are our personal five favourites, but please do take a look at the blog posts and let us know if you agree.
Resources
We hope you enjoyed our first quarterly roundup!
Some consider rope bondage to be within the realm of edgeplay, and even for the type of gentle floorwork that we have been practising, it's essential to get some sound advice and training. We've taken the online approach and have been using Esinem's Shibari Classes.
We've also recommended Shin Nawakiri's book, Essence of Shibari, in several previous posts and we're happy to stick by that recommendation. It really is a very good book.
Finally, consider getting yourself some "serious" rope if you like the look of this style of bondage; soft and stretchy cotton rope is not going to give you the best results. In most of our photos we're using Okinawa Jute rope from Esinem-Rope. But check out his shop for rope in a variety of lays and materials.
