Nawashi

A nawashi is a person with a recognized proficiency in the historic erotic art of Japanese bondage. The word nawashi is used in SM circles to mean “rope artist”.

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”

kinbakushi (緊縛師): (noun) tight binding (bondage) master

bakushi (縛師): (noun) abbreviated form of kinbakushi

See also

Bondage rigger

Notes

References

Further reading

Zume, 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 Archived 2009-10-11 at the Wayback Machine-See “Nawashi”