Shibuya Rope Event Features Masters, Hojojutsu
I wasn't able to make it to SM World in Night in Shinjuku a couple of weeks ago. I made up for it by attending an event in Shibuya hosted by Hajime Kinoko and his Ichi Nawa No Kai rope salon.
This one started in the afternoon and continued into the evening, while SM World was an all-nighter. I need my beauty rest.
The show featured very traditional nawa acts with most of the performers dressed in olden days Japanese attire.
I wasn't able to see all the acts because they were going on simultaneously on two floors of the club, a place called Module. Besides this, Module was a lot smaller than I had expected and it was really hard to move around. I was pretty much stuck on the B1 level and decided to remain there after hearing that the viewing arrangement on the B2 level was even more challenging.
During the first show, people were standing up which pretty much made it impossible to see much of what was going on on stage. After that, though, everyone sat down and that made things a lot better. It didn't solve the problem of trying to move around much, however.
I also decided to stay on the B1 level because that was where Hajime Kinoko was scheduled to appear and I was able to take photos of his show, so be sure to check out the gallery at the end of this report.
There were a couple of other very well-known names at this event: one was Naka Akira and the other was Sugiura Norio, perhaps the greatest bondage photographer in the world.
It was a great touch having Sugiura attend. I was wondering what they were going to do with him, though, since I think he's around 67 years old now. It turned out they brought him up on stage for a lengthy interview which I think the audience very much enjoyed.
Sugiura was smaller than I had imagined, very slight of build. He was dressed casually and wearing a stocking cap. During the interview he puffed away on American Spirits. I had heard that Sugiura could get quite, shall I say, animated, on the set of his shoots but during his interview he came across as soft-spoken and congenial.
As the interview progressed, the woman questioning Sugiura noticed Naka Akira in the crowd and invited him on stage. He was accompanied by a very beautiful young woman (Naka always seems to be in the presence of beautiful women) who turned out to be model and actress Kawakami Yu.
At this point, the interview pretty much went in three directions.
I had met Naka Akira once before years ago. He seemed like a really nice guy. Same thing here. Very down-to-earth and humble.
There was also a demonstration of hojojutsu put on by three members of Kinoko's rope salon group, two males and a female "prisoner". This was the first time I'd actually seen hojojutsu in action. It was really amazing to see the difference between this and modern day kinbaku.
It looked quite like a demonstration of martial arts. In fact, they mentioned the similarity at one point to the art of aikido. It reminded me somewhat of aikido when the woman threw a straight punch at one of the men. As soon as her fist got within range, the fellow deftly ensnared the wrist with a simple loop of rope.
In one smooth move he was behind her, bringing her arm up and across her throat. The rest of the rope (which was a single strand, I believe) was used to immobilize her other arm. She was then brought to the ground and the remaining rope immobilized her ankles leaving her trussed up in quite a wicked hogtie.
They also demonstrated how rope was placed around the throat of a prisoner, something you don't see much of in modern day kinbaku (for good reason).
I, of course, stuck around for Hajime Kinoko's show but unfortunately missed Naka's show and a few others as well. The place was just too uncomfortable and I was getting claustrophobia. Hopefully, there will be a next time -- in a different locale.
KabukiJoe
