We needed, for obvious reasons, somewhere indoors, somewhere private—something within our meagre budget and with a big strong beam to suspend our shibari model from. Lots of hunting later, location, date and crew were in place.

In Japanese, “Shibari” simply means “to tie”. The contemporary meaning of Shibari describes an ancient Japanese artistic form of rope bondage. Shibari style rigging creates geometric patterns and shapes with rope that contrast beautifully with the human body’s natural curves. The ropes and their texture provide contrast to smooth skin and curves. In Shibari, the model is the canvas, the rope is the paint and brush, and the rigger is the rope artist.

The Art of Contemporary Shibari

Terminology

• Shibari is a Japanese word — for “to tie decoratively.”
• “Rigger — is the one who is tying his partner
• Ropebunny — the one who’s being tied.

On the day of our Shibari Japanese bondage shoot, we fronted up to the Carlton warehouse. The ‘bunny and rigger’ did their own thing. All the while we circled, cameras clicking, photographing from all angles.

In the late 1800′s and early 1900′s a new form of erotic Hojo-justu evolved, called Kinbaku, the art of erotic bondage. Today, particularly in the west, the art of erotic bondage is typically called Shibari, which is an art of erotic spirituality, not a martial art.

Art of Contemporary Shibari

A Cosmopolitan article described Shibari as “the act of tying up a person for aesthetic purposes, in a pretty or intricate pattern, typically by using some form of rope”

Chris (the rope artist) and Minda (the model) were fabulous. Everyone was delighted with the shots they came away with, and the experience is something I won’t forget.

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