Articles tagged: Kihon (基本)

Rope handling is a manual skill that develops with practice. In this topic we look at what to focus learning on, what to work on first, and how to approach practice.

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes.

Learning shibari takes time: manual skills are acquired through repetition, and concepts through analysis. Organizing practice according to your goals and the time you have, and keeping it separate from erotic play, allows you to progress safely.

Estimated reading time: 18 minutes.

An exercise for creating and managing, between the person tying and the person being tied, a kinetic circuit in which both share the ground reaction force.

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes.

The square, the triangle, and the circle are the shapes with which we visualize balance, forces, and movement; applying this geometry to the body allows for more fluid and efficient shibari.

Estimated reading time: 13 minutes.

The triangle theory is the basis of restriction techniques in sekibaku (責縛): we build triangles, forming structures from the position of the body, in order to manage it fluidly.

Estimated reading time: 10 minutes.

Fureru (touching – 觸れる) is the technique that allows us to grade our contact with the body of the person being tied and to induce their movement subtly, without imposing it.

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes.

Practicing shibari consciously can be confusing at first, but if we follow this process, we can progress in understanding and handling the techniques.

Estimated reading time: 11 minutes.

Tension, both in the body and in the rope. The term is also used for muscle activation.

Fuchin (浮沈) can be translated as “floating and sinking”, “up and down” or “ebb and flow” —like the tide—.

It is one of the two terms used to refer to the technique through which different forms of communication and body management are established.

The term 張る (haru) means “to tense”, “to stretch” or “to activate”; in the anatomical context, it points to the muscles of the core.

These are open-hand techniques for handling the rope.

The Japanese term kankyu refers to tempo and rhythm in the context of shibari.

Kihon (基本) means, in this context, “technical fundamentals”.

It is a term from aikido, used in the early formulations of the Yagami Ryu, which in the dojo we adapt as one of the fundamentals of sekibaku.

Kuzushi (崩し) refers to the instant at which balance breaks.

These are two concepts of Japanese origin that, in the context of erotic shibari, provide a precise conceptual framework to describe both interpersonal space and the mechanisms that govern how erotic interaction begins and unfolds.

It is the circle that always brings you back to the starting point.

Musubi (結び), whose literal translation can be “bond”, “tie”, “knot” or even “conclusion”, is the nominalization of the verb 結ぶ (musubu): “to tie”, “to join”, “to connect”, “to bind”.

Musubime (結び目) is a compound of 結び (musubi) and the suffix 目 (me).

It means “rope handling”.

It means “orientation of desire”.

Shisei (姿勢) refers to body posture, specifically to the neutral anatomical position.

It refers to the techniques that use the edge of the hand as a point of support.

Literally, “gap” or “opening”; in the style it is understood as “blind spot”.

In our dojo we don’t rely on canonical “figures” to teach shibari; instead we start from the technical fundamentals and their combined application to create a personal, unique and unrepeatable shibari.

Under this term we group the strategies and procedures we use to manage balance during the shibari session, for both the tied person and the person tying: the equilibrium between the forces acting on the body —gravity, one's own effort, external actions, the response of the ground—, so that they offset each other and the net result tends toward zero.

Known as the “triangle theorem”.

Literally, “to capture”.

Literally: “desire circuit”.