The essence of kinbaku

Level: All levels

Workshop Style: Lecture, demo, and hands-on

Location: Seattle Central District. Exact address provided later in ticket purchase confirmation email.

Please read the full class description as well as all the disclaimers before buying tickets.

Japanese rope bondage (Kinbaku or Shibari) has become very popular, and its popularity keeps growing. However, it can be a little intimidating and frustrating to start because of how intricate and involved most ties are.

If you’ve been trying to learn Kinbaku/Shibari and you’ve been struggling with the challenge of memorizing the steps of various ties, this workshop is for you. You will learn how to improvise as you go along and tie your partner without needing to remember steps.

If you've already been practicing Kinbaku, this workshop will introduce you to a whole new approach of free-form tying that will make every play session unique.

This workshop will help you cultivate connection with your rope partner and create beautiful and hot rope experiences without having to memorize complex ties.

We will focus on creating intimacy between tying partners, and the importance of enjoying the tying process, and not just focusing on reaching the end product.

We will also discuss how rope and strawberries are related!

The techniques taught in this workshop will greatly help you as you continue to learn more about Shibari.

These techniques include:

• Rope bottoming skills

• Rope handling

• Understanding and achieving flow while tying

• Tying with focus on your play partner

• Ichinawa (AKA ippon nawa) translates to “one rope”. It is a technique that focuses on the process of tying/untying instead of the end result of a particular tie.

The workshop will also cover Aisatsu Shibari as an application of these techniques.

Prerequisites

Note: These building blocks will be covered during the workshop. However, previous familiarity with them will increase the benefit from the workshop.

To get the most out of this workshop, a person who will be tying should to be familiar with the following building blocks:

• Single-column tie

• Joining 2 ropes (extending rope)

• Half hitch

• Munter hitch (nodome)

• Creating an inline cuff (e.g. a hojo cuff)
  

What to bring

• 3-5 pieces of 7-8 meter 5-6mm rope. Natural fibre rope, especially jute, is highly recommended.

• A small blanket for warmth (recommended).

• A water bottle.
  

Waiver and physical government ID required

You will need to sign this waiver at the venue.
We will need to check a physical government ID to verify that you are at least 18 years old and that your legal name matches that on the waiver.

Arrival time and door policy

Please arrive 30 minutes before the workshop start time to finish the check-in process before the workshop starts. Attendee admittance will stop and the venue door will be locked as soon as the workshop starts.

Venue policy

No street shoes: This venue has a wooden floor. In order to protect the floor, street shoes may not be worn inside the building. Bare feet, socks, or dance shoes/soft soled shoes that are not worn outside are allowed. If you would like to wear indoor shoes, they need to be inspected by the instructors before you put them on.

No animals: Humans are the only lifeform allowed in the venue. Animals are not allowed. This includes pets, service animals, and emotional support animals.

Attendee policy

Anyone 18 years old or older is welcome. However, the instructors reserve the right to ask any attendee to leave at any time or disallow attendees from practicing, without stating a reason. By purchasing a ticket to this workshop, you are agreeing to comply with instructions from the workshop teachers. 

Accessibility

The venue is not fully ADA accessible. There is one step into the building and a second step to access the restroom.

Refund policy

Tickets are not refundable. However, if you’d like to transfer your tickets to someone else, please contact us no later than 5 days before the class date.

Mailing list

If you buy tickets to this event, we will add you to our mailing list. You can unsubscribe any time.

For any questions, please contact us. Please include “TOTL 9/2026” in the subject field.