Nawashi

File:Kinbaku show by Naka Akira at Toubaku, Tokyo, Japan.jpg

Female model Iroha Shizuki bound by kinbakushi Naka Akira in 2011

Nawashi (縄師) (noun; lit. "rope master", "rope teacher"), is a word which in SM circles means "rope artist". Nawashi are those who have some recognized proficiency in the historic erotic art of Japanese bondage (緊縛 (lit. "tight binding" kinbaku) or kinbaku-bi (lit. bondage beauty 緊縛美).

Other terms used in Japan for rope artists within SM culture are "kinbakushi" and "bakushi", with "bakushi" being more typical.

In early 2007 a documentary movie entitled Bakushi produced by Naoya Narita and directed by Ryūichi Hiroki was released. In it, Hiroki interviews three Japanese ropemasters (bakushi), Chimuo Nureki, Haruki Yukimura, and Go Arisue, along with three of their models, Hiromi Saotome, Sumire, and Taeko Uzuki.

Two famous nawashi are the late Osada Eikichi (2001) and Akechi Denki (2005). Other notable Japanese bakushi are Naka Akira, Haruki Yukimura, Hajime Kinoko, Randa Mai, Go Arisue, Chimuo Nureki and Chiba Eizoh. One notable female bakushi is Benio Takara.

The art of kinbaku has become more well-known in the West since the mid-1990s, with a number of notable non-Japanese practitioners shaping their rope art in Japanese inspired forms.

Glossary

• kinbaku (緊縛): (noun) bondage
• shibari (縛り): (verb) to tie or bind
• nawa shibari (縄縛り): (noun) rope tying
• nawashi (縄師): (noun) literally,"a maker of rope", but in SM circles in means "rope artist" (source Master K's book "Shibari, The art of Japanese Bondage")
• kinbakushi (緊縛師): (noun) tight binding (bondage) master
• bakushi (縛師): (noun) abbreviated form of kinbakushi

See also

• Japanese bondage
• Bondage rigger

Further reading

• Lume, Su (2014). Pink Kinky: Japan's Sex Underground. Hong Kong: Kingyo. ISBN 9789881250711. OCLC 870426996.

External links

• Glossary: Terms Related to Japanese Shibari / Kinbaku / Bondage—See "Nawashi"