Shibari - the real history

[Deleted Member]

   A perfectly trussed kitten dangling from the rafters gets my *** flowing like no other.  As a true submissive, it is my ultimate fantasy.  Wondering if anyone here enjoys a bit of rope play?  Sadly, riggers seem to be few and far between.

   There are of course those wanting to explore or just appreciate it as contemporary art.  But for those special Kinksters who have adopted into their practices the intricacy of the erotic bondage art of Shibari to push boundaries with creativity are to be credited.  It takes a whole lot of dedication and skill. 

  Central to the skill is creating symmetry with knots and patterns that contrast and complement the natural curvature of the body.  It can be a truly wonderful experience for a submissive to be roped and even more so if aesthetics are important alongside the actual seductive act itself.  Aligning with Hermetic principles, the attraction is very much in the juxtaposition; rough, irritating hemp rope (although most use much kinder materials) against a female’s delicate skin.  Decency against exposure, complexity v’s simplicity, flow against rigidity, harmony contrasting risk, *** and pleasure.  It can be as exquisite as it can be time consuming.  An act that perfectly embodies polar dynamics between Dominant and submissive.  Although it is quite simply a display of power, if applied correctly, pleasure is derived more from the journey than the destination.

   When I attended a Shibari workshop I was surprised to find that the highly experienced Shibari masters didn’t quite know the full history behind the art they were promoting.  Actually, contrary to popular belief, it’s not a modern day kink designed to aid bdsm.  Nor was it born out of restraining and torturing prisoner’s in the late 19th Century (Meiji period) by Kinbaku (the beauty of tight binding) as many have credited it.  Although it is where the practise parallels bdsm.

   Having studied the language, the writing of characters and more recently researching some of the beautiful Japanese cultures for my own project, I came across it’s true origins.  Actually it harks right back into the 16th Century during the Edo period (the development of Tokyo city) when the ancient traditional ceremony was designed to protect a woman’s propriety in death.  I thought it might be nice to just enlighten those who are interested in the real significance of Shibari (meaning to tie decoratively).

   Recounting the notorious ritual *** of the forty seven Ronin has since become legend.  When in 1703, a group of forty-seven leaderless Samurai (highly trained fighters) avenged their leader’s death two years after Ako-roshi was falsely accused of not showing adequate deference to his superior Daimyo, Kira, a powerful official upon organising a reception for the Emperor’s envoy.  A fight ensued between the two Daimyo, during which the lesser Ako-roshi was caught wielding a dagger within the imperial castle that resulted in a penalty of death by Seppuki, (an honourable *** by disembowelment using the samurai’s own katana sword).

   As part of the Japanese honourable philosophy, and equally affecting, the wife must also respect the Shogunate (leader of the country directly under the Emperor) and her husband’s name by killing herself by Seppuki but at home and therefore without ceremony.  By complexly tying her own legs together in what is now known to be a Shibari rope ritual, was purely to preserve a female’s modesty in death after she slit her own throat, not bowels as with males.

   What happened hereafter became legend.  After being ordered to take his own life as punishment, Ako-roshi’s family life was thus ruined by confiscation of his lands and his guards made leaderless, forty seven of whom became known as Ronin (leaderless fighters).  Within two years, several of the faithful Ronin surreptitiously infiltrated the house of the offending Daimyo, Kira, by acting as lowly workers, tradesmen and merchants, gathering information to seek retribution.

   Upon attacking Kira’s mansion they fought against his loyal Samurai and eventually found the Daimyo in hiding.  Kira then refused an honourable Seppuki death and so was dishonourably beheaded by the Ronin thus going against the Shogunate’s wishes that incurred a sentence of death.  Kira was a most hated lord, that the populous petitioned the leading Shogunate on behalf of the Ronin assailants, in so doing allowed an honourable death by Seppuki rather than be put to death as a shameful punishment.  Forty-six Ronin simultaneously committed Seppuki, their wives too suffering the same fate but at home however, the forty seventh was pardoned on account of his very young age and returned home to live out a long life.

[Rene724]

I'm a bit of a history nerd, so I really enjoyed this

[Deleted Member]

1 hour ago, Rene724 said:

I'm a bit of a history nerd, so I really enjoyed this

Thank you so much Rene for taking time to appreciate it.  That is more than I could have hoped for.  Tig xx

[Deleted Member]

The artistic value of submission piqued my.interest. There is erotic value in beautiful human furniture and mutual objectification that is underappreciated. Such a woman with deliciously poised and elegant body could carry this off perfectly

[sissy_petra_uk_slut]

Fascinating read, thankyou for sharing. By your account the film Ronin47, appears pretty accurate. It's good that history is not forgotten.

[Ky****]

yes, the knife was also used to preserve family honour so that the woman could kill herself if threatened with ***, although many samurai women also learnt the aiguichi as a weapon of self defence, indeed in one of the styles I teach a man is not permitted to learn knife/dagger as their first weapon but a woman can for this tradition.

always loved the Japanese attitude towards the eroticism of rope bondage, wish their were places in UK that would offer geisha style training to trans women with shibari as part of it.

The version of the 47 Ronin I know is slightly different but in some ways more poetic.  In this there are only 46 retainers.  The 47th was a samurai who spat on the leader of the 46 because he believed that they had disgraced a noble master.  When the truth came out he performed seppuku at their tomb and as a result is now considered one of them

[Deleted Member]

I'm a history nerd. Love Japanese cultural history. You've made my day with this. Thank you ❤

[Ky****]

27 minutes ago, MsWhiteRose said:

I'm a history nerd. Love Japanese cultural history. 

me too, although I take mine a bit further training in Japanese martial arts, guess one thing I like about it are the documented women's martial arts, yes a samurai woman was expected to be demure etc and submissive to her husband but could still train in combat, so a woman who like martial arts can still find role models such as Tomoe Gozen

[Deleted Member]

8 hours ago, purrfectpanther said:

The artistic value of submission piqued my.interest. There is erotic value in beautiful human furniture and mutual objectification that is underappreciated. Such a woman with deliciously poised and elegant body could carry this off perfectly

Imagery be default!  It is an exquisite way of expression.  Thank you for commenting.

[Deleted Member]

6 hours ago, MsWhiteRose said:

I'm a history nerd. Love Japanese cultural history. You've made my day with this. Thank you ❤

Never a nerd, Gorgeous!  Just cultured.  There in lies the difference.

I am more than delighted to have made your day a little more special that it already is.  Thank you for your appreciation. Tig xxx

[Deleted Member]

7 hours ago, pappaman said:

Fascinating read, thankyou for sharing. By your account the film Ronin47, appears pretty accurate. It's good that history is not forgotten.

I never watched the movie, I got my information from a number of universities.  But I appreciate you reaching out with kindness.  Tig xxx

[Deleted Member]

9 hours ago, Kymi said:

yes, the knife was also used to preserve family honour so that the woman could kill herself if threatened with ***, although many samurai women also learnt the aiguichi as a weapon of self defence, indeed in one of the styles I teach a man is not permitted to learn knife/dagger as their first weapon but a woman can for this tradition.

always loved the Japanese attitude towards the eroticism of rope bondage, wish their were places in UK that would offer geisha style training to trans women with shibari as part of it.

The version of the 47 Ronin I know is slightly different but in some ways more poetic.  In this there are only 46 retainers.  The 47th was a samurai who spat on the leader of the 46 because he believed that they had disgraced a noble master.  When the truth came out he performed seppuku at their tomb and as a result is now considered one of them

Thanks for showing your passion in the art as it shows.

Yes the females used a dagger rather than sword to slit their thoughts.  Certainly in the Edo Period women were more demure and therefore not allowed to use the katana rather in previous eras.

In the Akō Incident as it is known all 47 were samurai.  I have not come across your account so I'd be more than interested if you could point me in the direction of this.  I prefer to double check my information whenever possible so I thank you for your offering.  However there is documented evidence about the 47th living to a ripe old age, apparently until his 90's.  Tig xxx

[Deleted Member]

8 hours ago, Kymi said:

me too, although I take mine a bit further training in Japanese martial arts, guess one thing I like about it are the documented women's martial arts, yes a samurai woman was expected to be demure etc and submissive to her husband but could still train in combat, so a woman who like martial arts can still find role models such as Tomoe Gozen

Thank you sharing.

Women's participation certainly under the ruling of the Tokugawa Shogunate within the Edo Period, remained very much submissive, contrary to previous eras.  Tomoe Gozen was allegedly a bad ass however the facts are slightly more sketchy unfortunately to fully credited (as yet).

Again, I honour your interest and amazing knowledge.  Thank you for taking the time to write.  Tig xxx

[Ky****]

@Tigress the alternative version was told to me by a Japanese kendo teacher so I'm afraid that I have no written source for this, it may be one of the many variants that the prominence of the story has spawned, it may even be allegorical 

[Deleted Member]

Well it's still a lovely version.  So thanks again for your amazing participation.  Hugely rewarding. Tig xxxx

[Ky****]

1 hour ago, Tigress said:

Well it's still a lovely version.  So thanks again for your amazing participation.  Hugely rewarding. Tig xxxx

one thing that's changing is my use of naginata is now increasing at the expense of the katana, and of course Shibari puts an interesting slant of my previous study of hojojutsu which I covered with one of my former teachers, btw have you seen the documentary 'Samurai Warrior Queens' about Takeko Nakano, its as inspiring as chusingura

[Esinem]

"Actually it harks right back into the 16th Century during the Edo period (the development of Tokyo city) when the ancient traditional ceremony was designed to protect a woman’s propriety in death."

Would you elaborate? What is the source? I'm a little confused by the segue to the 47 ronin.  What is their connection if any?

AFAIK, 'shibari' simply means tying in Japanese. Outside the kink community, it has no sexual connotations. I understand that 'kinbaku' (literally 'tight binding', again with no sexual connotations prior) came into usage in the 50's after it appeared in Kitan Club magazine.

Attached is a bit of kinbaku history, The Lonely House on Adachi Moor. The photo was taken in Tokyo and that picture now hangs above me as I type. It fuelled the early fantasies and inspired more than one of today's Japanese rope gods ;-)
 

. 

Edited March 18, 2022 by Esinem