The Kinbaku Society of Berlin (KSB) is a European collective of people interested in studying kinbaku and its sociocultural setting, from its origins to its current evolution, and the print magazine it has published since 2019.
Historically, print publications, especially magazines, were a defining feature of shibari and kinbaku: for decades, the main medium for sharing techniques, images and narratives. Over time, video and, above all, the internet in its many formats gradually displaced physical media and the main historical titles disappeared, a change driven largely by the interests and strategies of the adult content industry, the niche in which “professional” shibari traditionally developed.
In recent years, however, print magazines have evolved toward a more artistic and cultural approach, focused on aesthetic expression, reflective essays and historical documentation, especially in the West, where kinbaku is experienced as intercultural dialogue and personal exploration. The KSB magazine is an example of this.
The collective
KSB arose from the meeting of curiosity, rigorous study and a deep desire for cultural understanding. What began as a small online forum, driven by a small group of people, quickly evolved into a publishing project centered on erotic kinbaku, exploring Japanese concepts of beauty, both traditional and contemporary, and seeking to bring them into dialogue with the European context without losing their essence or falling into cultural appropriation. In its own words:
We strive to understand historical and contemporary Japanese conceptualizations of beauty and how we can translate them into European culture. Our hope is to formulate an original expression of Kinbaku that respects its Japanese origin without appropriating it.
It is a non-profit initiative, driven by passion, with no formal memberships or closed structures: it is built on voluntary participation and, over years of growth, has attracted a collective of European enthusiasts, even through periods as difficult as the pandemic. It is open to content creators, with a section on its website for proposing collaborations.
The magazine
The print magazine brings together poetry, fiction, essays, historical documentation, illustrations, photography, drawings and interviews, and broadens its gaze to subcultures on the margins of normative society, giving voice to authentic, “deviant” (hentai) expressions that challenge convention. According to its website, it offers “a bold, uncensored mix of visual inspiration and in-depth research” and focuses on both traditional and contemporary Japanese underground culture, and on how it is perceived in the West.
It was launched as a quarterly and, according to its latest website, it is published twice a year. Each issue is a limited, hand-numbered edition built around a central theme: from death and dying to the tensions between drama and humor or the coexistence of multiple, ambiguous interpretations. It runs to some 96 pages per edition, with high-quality printing and sewn binding. It started with an initial print run of 100 copies and, according to its description, grew organically to runs of 350 to 500 copies.
By way of example, issue 14 (June 2023) dealt with fashion as a concept for expressing identity. The featured artist was Roman Kaspersky, one of the most prominent photographers on the German fetish scene, and it brought together research articles, poetry, photography, stories, illustration and a humorous article on the aesthetics of riggers.
The magazine has continued to be published: as of October 2026, its website lists more than a dozen issues.
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