The SM Detective

The Nawaya Toubaku international bondage event will be held in Shibuya, Tokyo on January 29-30 followed by a week-long kinbaku workshop from February 1-7.

The event is being organized by young rope artist Hajime Kinoko. Rida and I had the opportunity to conduct a video interview with Kinoko-san awhile ago to get the low-down on the event. Thanks to the tireless efforts of Rida, the video has complete English subtitles. You might want to take a trip over to her blog to thank her for this. Believe me, this is a lot of work!

On January 30th, after the event, there will be an all-night party at the club Sleeping Beauty also in Shibuya.





And here is the direct link to the video.




Updates:

2000 views on FC2 Video. Not bad for just a couple of days.




Toubaku will be at Club Axxcis in Shibuya.

Address: 東京都渋谷区渋谷3-26-25

Copy and paste into J Google for the map.

Schedule: Jan. 29 (Sat) 15:00～20:30 -- Jan. 30 (Sun) 15:00～22:00

The all-night party on the 30th will be at Sleeping Beauty starting at 22:00.

Address: 東京都渋谷区道玄坂2-21-10

www.toubaku.com

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I just found out that this isn't the first Toubaku. My previous report can be found here. The difference this time is that this will be an international event. I can't believe that was almost a year ago.

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A shorter YouTube version of the video has been posted here.

KabukiJoe

I first came across Zetsu on FetLife (where else?) several months ago. He is a student of Master K's and contacted me to tell me that both he and K would be visiting Tokyo around the same time. Master K's book, The Beauty of Kinbaku, was going to be published in Japan and K was coming over to sign the contract. For his part, Zetsu is in the planning stages on a book and was coming over to conduct research.

They had quite an adventure, meeting with the likes of Nureki Chimuo, Arisue Go, Naka Akira, Urato Hiroshi and Yukimura Haruki, so it seemed an interview was in order.

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I had set up an interview with a hero of mine, the amazing photographer, Sugiura Norio, and when the day arrived to conduct the interview, I forgot all about it!

I was gutted. Completely shattered. At the time, I believed I would never have another chance. That was the knife turning after the initial thrust. I can't describe the agony.

But phone calls were made and emails sent. After awhile it looked like there might still be some hope of salvaging the whole sorry mess. As it turned out, one month later to the day, I was sitting across from the man I had admired from afar for years.

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When you approach the entrance of Sleeping Beauty in Shibuya, you don't just walk through the door like it's the local convenience store. It doesn't open automatically like most doors these days. In fact, it's kept firmly locked.

There's an intercom outside. Push the button. When the door opens, if it opens, prepare to enter a different world.

Of course, the neighborhood where Sleeping Beauty is located isn't exactly Main St., USA. This is an area populated by love hotels, clubs and various and sundry other establishments catering to a decidedly adult clientele.

Sleeping Beauty is a "happening bar" and, as such, it fits in well here.

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As far back as I go with The City of Angles, I'm surprised I neither bumped into nor heard of an individual who refers to himself as Master "K". I first learned of him after coming to Japan -- through the internet, of course.

As a scholar and historian, Master "K" spends surprisingly little time on the internet with the possible exception of email. He does his research the old fashioned way, burying himself in ancient and obscure texts, many written in a form of Japanese that isn't common today. While he acknowledges that his Japanese accent could use some help, he excels at reading and comprehending the Chinese characters that were committed to paper by Japanese characters whom the centuries have forgotten.

Master K's subject, and his fascination, is kinbaku -- as it has been for over three decades. Almost as an afterthought, he wrote a book. He says it dawned on him one day that he was in the unique position to write something on the topic that he would like to read.

The book is called The Beauty of Kinbaku.

Hit the Read More link for an interview with Master "K", the unassuming author of an imposing work on the subject of kinbaku.

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