General Discussion

Kinbaku (Japanese: 'tight binding'), also called kinbaku-bi ('the beauty of tight binding'), is a Japanese style of bondage or BDSM which involves tying a person up using simple yet visually intricate patterns, usually with several pieces of thin rope (often jute, hemp or linen and generally around 6 mm (0.24 in) in diameter, but sometimes as small as 4 mm (0.16 in), and between 7–8 m (23–26 ft) long). In Japanese this natural-fibre rope is known as asanawa.

Shibari is a Japanese word that broadly means "binding" or "tying" in most contexts, but is used in BDSM to refer to this style of decorative bondage (Kinbaku), a meaning first popularized in the West in the 1990s. Shibari is inspired by the samurai martial art of restraining captives with rope in the fastest amount of time, causing hemp rope to become a Japanese symbol of power. This is similar to how handcuffs are used to symbolize power and restrain partners in a Western BDSM context.

Shibari, or Kinbaku, focuses on the aesthetics and display of the body: a symbolic or artistic (rather than ordinary physical) show of sexual power. As a result, and due to the manipulation of body parts using rope to achieve this, it is common, though not always required, for models or participants to be fully naked and the art form regularly incorporates aspects of BDSM such as erotic humiliation. It may be used for restraint as well as solely being a visual.