Other Shibari Styles

We have spoken about the two most common styles of Shibari, Western and Japanese Shibari. Apart from these styles, there are other ways to identify Shibari. These other styles of Shibari depend on the purpose, intention or goal of the bondage. Since rope bondage is constantly evolving, there is no definitive list of the different styles of Shibari. I will list some other Shibari styles, but today each style of Shibari might have a blend of different styles.

One of th most known Shibari styles, apart from Western and Japanese Shibari, is Decorative Shibari. Decorative Shibari tends to be more elaborated. And it focuses mostly on the aesthetics and patterns created by the rope on the body. Therefore, this style is used mostly for artistic purposes. For example, some people have created extreme forms of rope bondage that come close to resembling clothing. Another style of Shibari is Rope for Porn. This style combines functional purposes of Western Shibari with some of the aesthetics of Japanese Shibari. There is an entire genre of rope that has evolved in the porn industry.

Rope for Performance, is another style of Shibari, where they use the rope as a type of performance, as a live performance, for photography or video. In this style of Shibari, the main focus is to use rope in the body as a way to expose it. Live performance has become popular and dynamic, they usually use intricate ties and the tying itself is the main focus of the performance. Photography and video have also become very popular. In this style, the rope s used only in Artistic purposes.

Sensual or Sadistic rope is another style of Shibari. In Sensual Shibari, the focus is on the sensual interaction between rope and body, and the stress or pain involved in the interaction.  For Sadistic Shibari, the rope is the  “attacking rope”. This means the purpose is the pleasurable mistreatment of the bound person.

Image: Fred Kyrel