Japanese rope bondage master Osada Steve has launched the World Kinbaku Federation, a new organization that "strives to protect and preserve authentic kinbaku as practiced in Japan."
Osada notes the rich and layered history of kinbaku (also known as shibari), which traces its origins back to the use of rope in the martial arts and developed into forms of rope torture and, in the postwar period, a type of erotic and BDSM practice. Thanks to the internet, kinbaku is now globally known and practiced, and Osada's own proactive efforts with his online platforms have definitely played a strong ...
As regular readers will know, Osada Steve is a true rope master who practices the Osada-ryu school of shibari (kinbaku) bondage and is something of a legend in the Japanese BDSM scene.
We interviewed Osada-sensei about six months ago to find out more about his amazing career, how he entered the secret world of shibari rope bondage, and his insights on the future of kinbaku.
Now he has let us know about a new project he recently launched: a "toy salon" where top-quality Japanese female pleasure items can be tested under the expert guidance of trained counselors.
In addition to the various ...
"Shibari is 90% emotional. The other half is technical."
Following our earlier article about Steve Osada's online Japanese rope bondage learning platform, Kinbaku Academy, we sat down with the rope master for a conversation about his career and the state of shibari/kinbaku today.
Steve Osada (also often referred to using the Japanese name order, Osada Steve) inherited the Osada name in 2001 from grandmaster Eikichi Osada when he died. They had first met in 1998 for a photo shoot and Steve eventually started helping the grandmaster with his weekly shows as a pulley operator. The rest, as ...
Kinbaku (shibari) rope bondage sensei Steve Osada, formerly known as the photographer Dr D Vice, is the inheritor of the Osada name and tying style (Osada-ryu) from Eikichi Osada.
The late master is one of the people responsible for making kinbaku known in the mainstream. He staged his first kinbaku performance at a ballet school in Asagaya, Tokyo, in 1965, which ushered the previously hidden world of rope bondage into the open. He subsequently moved his performance act to the strip show venue circuit in the late 1970s. In the 1980s, he did many shows with pink movie legend Hiromi Saotome, ...
Recently I had the pleasure to meet the king of Tokyo's shibari scene myself, and the honour to watch during one of his sessions. A few days later then, since we share similar origins and got along well, he took me along on one of his tours with some of his admirers that came as far as from the US and Australia.
Both events were a first time experience for me. Not that I don't know the "dark side" of Tokyo well enough. I know the corners of Kabukicho and am quite familiar with all kind of adult goods of course, since the discerning product selectors at KanojoToys let me tag along.
I ...
Ever heard of Steve Osada?
If you're not a regular on the traditional Japanese bondage scene, you may not have, but within the shibari houses of Tokyo's seedy Kabukicho district, he's The Man.
Shibari, also known as kinbaku, is the Japanese art of erotic bondage, differentiated from Western bondage by its focus on ties that actively pleasure the bottom, as well as its minimalist, often asymmetric, aesthetic. While not the only culture to enjoy tying their lovers up, the Japanese may be more open about it than most.
Image by Max Hodges
Osada Steve is one of the few living ...
