I have deliberated much upon the short-comings of the traditional reef knot style tie off used in, for example, the wrist tie of many takate-kotes. It seems to me that this type of knot is most unsuitable for a load at 90 degrees as this will often capsize the knot into hitches, which have the …
No, aural, i.e. sound, not oral sex! Not that anything precludes the latter, of course. As I frequently say, kinbaku is not about knots and all about the way you use rope to create the experience. I often compare ‘just tying’ with eating simply to fill your stomach, which could be achieved with a bag …
I recently ran intermediate and advanced courses in which I taught the standard OS TK (actually more correctly called a ‘gote or ‘gote shibari as it does not exhibit the typical ‘high hand’ position) and revised the tie with those who professed to know it. Almost all of those who already had a good idea …
Bob Ropemarks recently had an unfortunate incident at a big show: a rope broke and his model fell. Luckily, no great harm was done but there might be some lessons to be drawn. I applaud Bob for making an account of the incident public. As Bob points out, the most likely cause was the sawing …
Written by Rida after a newaza session with me at Kinoko’s ‘Sleeping Beauty’ happening bar during the Toubaku week. I take her words as a great compliment as they echo my feelings about the session and express very eloquently what effect kinbaku can have when one uses the rope and doesn’t just tie mechanically. It …
In my experience, side suspension carries a higher risk of radial nerve injury in the upper arm area on the side nearest the ground. It seems logical that since all the weight is transferred to one side, rather than distributed across the torso and both arms, that this would be so. I suspect most problems …
I am always a sucker for pictures of beautiful tattooed Japanese girls in rope, so this guy’s work caught my eye. Tr@sh, with typical Japanese modesty, hasn’t given me much information about his work, but he has kindly allowed me to publish a series of kinbaku photos taken at “Elfen Lied”, an SM bar in …
Sometimes one stumbles across hidden gems in the most unlikely places. In this case, a student directed me to video showing a “takate kote” to ask my opionion. What I found was a Japanese fusion box tie that gave a mere nod to a t-k. However, upon looking up the URL, I came across a …
I recently came across a post on Fetlife entitled ‘Buyer Beware’ and noticed my name in the slug, so opened the thread with some trepidation thinking I might have an unhappy customer. What I found was far from that! It turned out to be somebody asking for feedback about my eBay shop who had had …
If you haven’t heard of TheAngryNawashi yet, you should do. He is a man of considerable wisdom unconstrained by the advice of “if you haven’t anything nice to say, say nothing”. Whether one agrees or not, it is refreshing to see somebody not being afraid to speak their mind. Unrestrained praise does not improve our tying, whereas …