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The Seductive Art of Japanese Bondage
- by Midori
$27.95
ISBN 1890159387
available through
Amazon
Reviewed by William Dean
(01/23/02)
"Back in my Berkeley undergraduate days," says Midori in her
introduction, "a lover and I somehow got the idea to take turns tying
each other up during sex. In our aged co-op apartment we had set up a
cheap futon on a plywood platform resting on cinder blocks. From each
corner cinderblock snaked frayed ropes just long enough to wrap around
wrists and ankles. It was clumsy, to be sure, but it was fun! In those
feverish nights of passion we both learned the pleasure of bondage and
the feel of the rope digging into flesh as we devoured each
other."
Since then, of course, the redoubtable Fetish Diva Midori has gone
on to study the ins and outs of shibari, Japanese rope bondage, with
the artists and masters, including Lou Duff, Kaye Buckley, and the
incredible Randa Mai of Tokyo. As a consequence of her training, she
now presents us with an in-depth tutorial and appreciation in her
book, The Seductive Art of Japanese Bondage, complete with
diagrams and photographs. Bondage games, of course, span a wide
variety of creativity, but, as in many things, the Japanese elevate
sexual tying to a subtle, yet disciplined, art. Akin, in its own way,
to martial arts, the eloquent tea ceremony, and Japanese brush
painting, shibari, too, has its poetic names for naughty knot
combinations, such as the Open Leg Crab (kaikyaku kani), the
Tortoise Shell (kikkou), and the ever-popular
gyakuebi, or Hog Tie.
What it's all about, Midori helps us understand, is far more than
just looping strands of hemp or silk and then practicing those Boy
Scout knots, but rather using bondage to create a visual pleasure for
the one binding and the one being bound.
The effect of aesthetic appeal on the scene can be
tremendous. As the rope slides onto one bottom's willing flesh, she
is inspired by her own beauty as the ravished heroine of her own
erotic epic. Another glows in the knowledge that his physique is
enhanced and accentuated by the ropes, even as his captive fantasy is
realized.
Lovers and SM players will find this book an inspiration as well as a
manual on how to weave and tie intricate patterns of rope to turn
their beloved into a presentation gift of sensual delight. Bondage of
this sort becomes sculptural and Midori even suggests that players
study the forms and shapes in museums in order to pose their
submissives with or without ropes in place.
I can feel the heat of her sex just beyond my
fingers. I behave, remembering that a submissive must not take
liberties. Keeping my wrists in one hand she reaches over to the pile
of jewel-colored ropes, selecting one of deep ruby and unfurling it in
a cascade of color. Swiftly my wrists are bound behind my back, and
then my arms and torso soon follow in their fate of immobility. As
the ropes tighten I can feel my nipples harden. Another rope flies up
to the ceiling and she loops it through a bolt. A quick tug and I'm
forced up onto my toes, carefully balanced. I am now at her
mercy.
Scenarios, aesthetic and historical background notes, diagrams, and
guides for pre-, during, and post-bondage activities are all included,
so all you really need is a willing partner and your favorite rope
coils, be they silk, hemp, or velvet. Tie me up, tie me down.
Review ©2001 by William Dean
Reader Comments
William Dean has written online erotica under his pen name, Count of Shadows, for several years, beginning with his early participation at Erotica Readers Association and Marilyn Jaye Lewis' Other Rooms. He writes a monthly column, Into the Erotik, and is the Newsletter Editor
and Graphics Director for the Erotica Readers
Association's Web site. He is also an Associate Editor
for Clean Sheets, along with contributing his original artwork.
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