The Japanese bondage art of shibari is rising in popularity and makes Fifty Shades of Grey look like child’s play. Writer Cleo Glyde learns the ropes
So far, my life’s scariest moments have been: 20-hour childbirth, a shark cage dive in the deep black waters of South Australia’s Port Pirie, and 360-degree barrel rolls in an L-39 fighter jet – surreal, physically exacting moments that made me rethink my motto “anything for a laugh”.
How soon we forget. Again, I’m doing something that can only be described as nuts. My chest is trussed with raw rope and my hands are tied behind my back in a series of knots so complex that Houdini himself could never get free. I am bound. Restrained. The man in total control has encircled me with intricate interweaving loops and knots to form a perfect harness.
In this state of surrender, with no use of my hands, a lightning bolt of panicky, primal fear puts me on high alert; I am about to lose footing and be suspended above hard concrete. “Trust the ropes,” my rope master whispers. Just like climbing the first peak of a roller coaster, I know I am no longer in control. Flee-the-building panic overtakes me, flooding my body as I scream, “I need people to hold me now! Help!” Well, it looks like I found my “edge”.
Welcome to shibari (‘‘to tie”), the exquisitely rarefied art of Japanese rope bondage, originally created by Samurai warriors to entrap prisoners. This year’s Adelaide Fringe Festival featured a shibari performance, describing it as “a hedonistic blend of sensual bondage, control, eroticism and lust,” and insisted it would appeal to anyone who’s bored of Sexpo or who’s read Fifty Shades and is looking for a new sexy high.
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