--- title: "Shigonawa Bingo (紫護縄びんご)" date: 2026-10-22 author: "Sr. Interior (流庵殿)" intro_image: "https://shibari-dojo.online/images/bakushi/bak0070_sq.webp" fulltext_image: "https://shibari-dojo.online/images/bakushi/bak0070_lg.webp" categories: - name: "Key Figures" url: "https://shibari-dojo.online/bak-en.md" tags: - name: "Bakushi (縛師)" url: "https://shibari-dojo.online/tags/bakushi-en.md" --- # Shigonawa Bingo (紫護縄びんご) ![Shigonawa Bingo (紫護縄びんご)](https://shibari-dojo.online/images/bakushi/bak0070_lg.webp) **Shigonawa Bingo** was one of the singular figures of the contemporary Japanese kinbaku scene. He was born in 1963 (year 38 of the *Showa* era) and began his professional career in 2009; he himself described it as a journey of self-discovery that took him beyond his country’s borders to audiences around the world, especially during his frequent visits to Europe throughout the 2010s. He was self-taught, learning through private practice and direct observation. One of his most distinctive traits was precisely that he did not identify with any particular school or style: **he developed a language of his own, in which the experience comes before the form**. As one of the few riggers to emerge directly from the scene, he saw rope as one more tool in the service of arousal, control and domination. For him, **tying was not an end in itself, but the means to stimulate and give pleasure to the person being tied**. Although audiences tend to see his work as an art form, Shigonawa insisted that it is, above all, an intimate erotic practice in which the subtlety of gestures, expressions and physical reactions takes the place of words. After a performance in Paris, the audience described his style as “flowing like water”: an image that captures well his pursuit of a stripped-back, natural shibari. Day to day, he ran the bars **Ubu** (初心-UBU-, opened in 2012) and **Mitsu** (2013) in the Shinjuku district with **Yoshida Yoi**, where he was known for his warmth and his constant presence. For him, the bars were above all a meeting place open to anyone from outside: “Kinbaku is Japanese culture, but only human beings create culture, and since they can exchange it, culture has no borders.” His stage work was just as intense: a regular at **Onawa Asobi**, where he made his debut in 2009, he combined his roles as host and instructor with live performances and stayed active until August 2025, even while facing a serious illness. His legacy also includes training new generations through many workshops and the manual *Ima sugu dekiru! Zusetsu shibarikata manyuaru 2* (いますぐデキる！図説縛り方マニュアル2, *You Can Do It Now! How to Tie Manual*, 2016), which he supervised together with **Kazami Ranki**. For Shigonawa, labels mattered little. What mattered was personal growth, empathy and what arises between two people in the simple act of tying and being tied. ![Shigonawa Bingo in a recent photograph by Erica Sato](https://shibari-dojo.online/images/bakushi/bak0070_03.webp) Shigonawa Bingo in a recent photograph by Erica Sato. > “I prefer to perform in an intimate setting, where you can hear the sound of the ropes or the breathing as you come closer, rather than on a dazzling stage. I like to create an atmosphere of empathy with the audience, under the attentive gaze of those who really want to be there, while jazz or classical music plays.” — Shigonawa Bingo --- ### Obituary Shigonawa Bingo died in November 2025 (year 7 of the *Reiwa* era) after a long illness which, however, did not stop him from continuing his professional work until the end. Despite his fragile health, he remained active as an instructor and even gave the occasional performance while his strength allowed. Shortly before his death he attended the premiere of *Sei: Saga* (性 〜SAGA〜), the short film about him, surrounded by his loved ones and a good part of the Japanese shibari scene. From September 3 to 5, 2026, the film was officially screened in Tokyo, and it was released on DVD together with the documentary *Inori* (祈〜INORI〜). ![Poster for the short film Sei: Saga (性 〜SAGA〜), about Shigonawa Bingo](https://shibari-dojo.online/images/bakushi/bak0070_01.webp) Poster for the short film *Sei: Saga* (性 〜SAGA〜). Beyond the debates he may have sparked, Bingo-san was a shibari reference both in Japan and in Europe, which he visited many times. He was approachable and generous, always ready to share and to encourage those taking their first steps. His loss saddens us deeply. On a personal note, I remember that around the 2010s he published a text called *Nawa Shigusa*: a kind of etiquette manual for shibari, inspired by the civic rules of the Edo period. At the time I was passionate about shibari and everything Japanese, so I wrote to him asking for permission to translate it. To my surprise, he replied kindly, with a single condition: that I include the original Japanese text. Many years have passed, and *Nawa Shigusa* is as valid as it was on the first day. May this memory serve as a small personal tribute to Bingo-san. ## Custom Fields **Content Type — The formal and communicative nature of a piece of content, based on its documentary function.:** Review **Knowledge Type — The nature of knowledge according to its role within practice.:** Scene **Field of Study — The specific area of practice that the content focuses on.:** History **Corpus — A structured body of reference knowledge that underpins the content.:** Industry **Criteria — A cross-cutting perspective that defines the emphasis or intent from which the content is approached.:** Entertainment **Summary — A brief synthesis of the content that presents its main topics, purpose, or most relevant aspects.:** The self-taught path in kinbaku: a style of his own, without a school, and a legacy as an instructor in Japan and Europe.