Yukimura Haruki

Yukimura Haruki, the last of the four Japanese Shibari grandmasters, passed away on March 3rd, 2016. He was a master rigger, teacher, producer, photographer, and actor. He produced more than 3000 videos, book and all kinds of publications about Shibari or Kinbaku.

Yukimura Haruki was a renowned bakushi, or rope artist in Japan. He had only counted numbers of riggers that attended his classes in his Dojo. During his last 10 years, Yukimura taught his techniques to a small number of occidental people, so thanks to his friend and renowned master Osada Steve, in 2012, he conducted a workshop in. the Copenhagen Shibari Dojo, here more than 50 riggers from all around the world had their first lesson with the great master Yukimura Haruki Sensei, the first time he had ever taught outside Japan.

Yukimura Haruki had a more handcrafted delicate touch of intimacy in his technique. He developed a unique technique called “Newaza”. In this technique, the main focus is on the intense relationship between a rigger, the model and the ropes. Yukimura used to provoke very intense moments in the scene. This was evident in the models’ expression and reactions as the rope embraced them. These intense moments are part of his unique “caressing style”.

Yukimura started getting into Shibari since his childhood, where he started to use his rope art since his early beginnings as a photographer, and as time went by he began with movies which started to get a more erotic approach, which made him spend more time doing Shibari in front of his lenses than behind them. In addition to his Shibari lessons and knowledge, he was also a gifted calligrapher.

Yukimura Haruki technique prevails in several Shibari Dojos and is imparted by a few Shibari teachers, who had the luck to learn with him and now share his knowledge and technique.

Image: Kinbakumania