Skip to content
18+
Kinkcenter › Glossary

Shibari / kinbaku

Shibari is a Japanese word that broadly means binding or tying, and in BDSM it refers to a style of decorative bondage also known as kinbaku.[1]

Sources: grade B×1, grade C×12. Last checked 8 October 2026. What the grades mean

Bondage as a sexual activity first came to notice in Japan in the late Edo period, roughly 1600 to the 1860s.[2] Shibari is described as inspired by the samurai martial art of restraining captives with rope, which made hemp rope a Japanese symbol of power.[3] In the West, this meaning of the word was first popularised in the 1990s.[3]

One traditional view holds that shibari is a Western misuse of Japanese vocabulary, since it denotes tying in a generic way, while kinbaku is the term for artistic or erotic tying.[4] An even more traditional view is that shibari is used for erotic bondage in Japan and is practically interchangeable with kinbaku.[4] The term kinbaku was first developed and used in the August 1952 issue of Kitan Club.[5][6]

Kinbaku is based on fairly specific rope patterns, many derived from Hojojutsu ties but significantly modified to make them safer for bondage use.[7] Many Hojojutsu ties were deliberately designed to cause harm to a prisoner and are therefore not suitable for erotic bondage.[7] One definition describes kinbaku as a decorative tie whose aim is a beautiful rope pattern around the body.[8]

In Japan the most often used rope is a loose laid, three strand jute rope, called asanawa and usually translated as hemp rope.[9] Kinbaku is practised with ropes of 6–8 metres in length.[10] In the US, synthetic ropes have become popular for their vibrant colours and ease of washing.[11]

Sources

  1. Source grade C"(title in Japanese)" . Jisho . jisho.org (via Wikipedia: Japanese bondage)
  2. Source grade CMaster K, The Beauty of Kinbaku , King Cat Ink, ISBN 978-0-615-24876-9 (via Wikipedia: Japanese bondage)
  3. Source grade CJina Bacarr, The Japanese art of sex: how to tease, seduce, & pleasure the samurai in your bedroom , Stone Bridge Press, LLC, 2004, ISBN 1-880656-84-1 , p. 185 books.google.com (via Wikipedia: Japanese bondage)
  4. Source grade C"(title in Japanese)" (in Japanese). nawa-art.com (via Wikipedia: Japanese bondage)
  5. Source grade C"nawapedia - Kitan Club" . nawapedia.net (via Wikipedia: Japanese bondage)
  6. Source grade C"telegram: Shibari_rus" . t.me (via Wikipedia: Japanese bondage)
  7. Source grade CWinkler, Lawrence (2016). Samurai Road . Bellatrix. ISBN 9780991694181 . Retrieved 12 October 2020 . books.google.com (via Wikipedia: Japanese bondage)
  8. Source grade CHywel & Ariel. "The Restrained Elegance lexicon of slavegirl bondage poses and positions" . Restrained Elegance . Archived from the original on 23 August 2017 . Retrieved 25 August 2009 . restrainedelegance.com (via Wikipedia: Bondage positions and methods)
  9. Source grade CChristopher Noss, A Text-book of Colloquial Japanese . Based on the Lehrbuch Der Japanischen Umgangssprache by Rudolf Lange, Adamant Media Corporation, ISBN 1-4021-5747-9 , p.240; Vee David, The Kanji Handbook , Tuttle Publishing, 2006, ISBN 0-8048-3779-1 , p.158,331; Mark Spahn, Wolfgang Hadamitzky, Kimiko Fujie-Winter, The Kanji dictionary , Tuttle Publishing, 1996, ISBN 0-8048-2058-9 , p.907,1376 (via Wikipedia: Japanese bondage)
  10. Source grade C"Japanese Rope Bondage History and Tradition" . Jade Rope . Jade Artistry. Archived from the original on 23 September 2021 . Retrieved 5 April 2021 . web.archive.org (via Wikipedia: Japanese bondage)
  11. Source grade CKent, Douglas (2019). Complete Shibari Vol 1 . Mental Gears. p. 16. ISBN 978-0-9736688-1-0 . (via Wikipedia: Japanese bondage)
  12. Source grade C"Crash Restraint-Takate kote survey" . crash-restraint.com . Archived from the original on 1 May 2019 . Retrieved 30 April 2019 . crash-restraint.com (via Wikipedia: Bondage positions and methods)
  13. Source grade BDrouin M, Hernandez E, Machette A, Garcia JR, Boyd RL. An exploration of marks/injuries related to BDSM sexual experiences. Sex Med. 2023. doi:10.1093/sexmed/qfad020

Grades: A systematic review or official classification, B peer-reviewed study, C expert or community organisation, D practice from the community without research. How we grade sources.

Every claim was checked against its source before publication. Last checked 8 October 2026.