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Definitions
Japan
- Asian Bondage
Tongue Torture - Chopstick Press
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Some personal words about
the difference between Japan- an Western-Bondage
I think there are different
ways to see a difference. On one hand, there are some very artsy western
bondages (like rope-corsetts or other multi layer rope bondages). And
there are many japanese bondage films with a little rope, many dildos
and vibrators, enemas and than fucking and sucking. I call this bondage
porn and sometimes the bondage they use in these films look quite good.
Western people look to the east, eastern people to the west. There is
a big influence which floots in both directions and back. There are also
different people which are doing Shibari with different aims and focuses.
I think that japanese bondage is in gerneal about using special rope tying
patters orginated from Japan. It seems to me, that there are about 23
to 29 patterns (depending from the opinions of the different rope-masters).
Using these patterns to create a special feeling for both, the "victim"
and the "bondager" could be the right way for some people. The
art in it is not, to know every layer and "how to" about these
patterns, it is the possibility of using this knowledge to create a space
of sensuality, beauty and freedom in ropes. Wether you also use typical
japanese shibari details like kimonos, candles etc. seems not the point
to me. Sometimes I use it to help me and the model to create this special
atmosphaere, sometimes it is only a kind of costume.
If you look to shibari in Japan, much of the public shows are about the
cool master or mistress and the poor and helpless victim, about vulnerability
and devotion, about the superior master and the humilated piece of female
flesh. There is so often this attitude of contempt in this situations,
but not during the normal contact before or after the show.
Japenese models went straight into their subspace during the bondage and
the bondager has to take full responsibility for the victim.
My way of doing shibari is more about staying in contact and caressing.
But I think much of the things I do are not really softer, than the japanese
masters are doing. The public shibari is quite often a kind of erotic
theatre, beautifull as well, but theatre. I try to do shibari as a kind
of reality. No show, just true. But I use show elements as well.
You see, it is not quite easy to describe the difference. For me is so
much just to feel.
The following texts are published on the pages of the (German) encyclopaedia
Papiertiger,
a service from Datenschlag. See there for further items, too.
Papiertiger: Japan
The people from Papiertiger
had contacts to a japanese group of sadomasochists. They wrote the descriptions
for a few specifically japanese characteristic features.
In Europe the mainstream came into contact with part of the japanese sadomasochism
in 1993 through the movie "Tokyo Decadence"; see there.
In a kind of japanese SM craze
at the beginning of the eighties sadomasochism was getting known to the
japanese public, and in the USA the cult around the colour black developed.
Most interestingly black seems to be more important for sessions with
a female top and a male bottom than the other way round. In the traditional
japanese SM the dominating colour seems to be red more than black; especially
for the toys (red wax, red ropes). For bondage games most Japanese prefer
undyed hemp ropes or jute. The special kind of aesthetic of these materials
seems to have found many friends in the West, too.
The general sadomasochistic
literature seems to be in a predicament similar to that in Europe: Books
about realistic practices are rare; and those existing are mostly unrealistic.
(1996)
In literature the Story of "O" enjoys the same high importance
it does among the sadomasochists of the West. Reversely, the sadomasochism
here is influenced by Japan because of the Manga and Anime. There are
some western comics, too, about this topic, but in Japan it seems to have
more of a natural place in the comic culture.
The american influence extends to the language, too. A whole series of
english terms and expressions have been "japanized". Muchi for
example is the japanese word for instruments for lashing and hitting from
whip to cane, but variations of whip and crop are used as well. For a
paddle they use the word padoru, a gag is not only a sarugutsuwa, but
a gyagu, too; and a ball gag becomes therefore boru gyagu. Also noticeable
are korusetto for corset, buutsu for boots, and gomu or rabar for rubber.
The sadomasochism itself is called sado-mazo.
Besides all this there are some original words, too, of course: Rope nawa,
chain kusari, handcuffs tejou or tekase, knots musubime, blindfold mekakusi,
hood zentou-masuku or fuudo, collar kubiwa, leather kawa.
For people and titles there
are maid meido or jochuu, slave (male or female) dorei, master shujin
(as form of address (?) goshujin-sama), mistress joou-sama, toys omocha,
prisoner (male and female) horyo. Feelings are: Pain itami or kutsuu,
pleasure kaikan, humiliation kutsujoku or haji, submission fukujuu or
kuppuku. Punishment shobatsu, torture goumon, power chikawa or kenryoku.
For bondage there seems to be quite another tradition to tie up the hands
of the bottom than in the West- While in the West the hands are tied up
at the wrists, in Japan the forearms are put parallel to one another so
that the fingertips of the one hand touch the ellbow of the other arm.
Additionally for women a rope is lead above and below the breasts.
Something quite unknown in the Western world is nostril torture*.
*Papiertiger: Nostril Torture
That's a game where the nostrils are included as a place for punishment.
Two of the versions of this game popular in Japan are (blunt!) hooks put
either at the side of the nostrils and pulled at painfully through an
elastic band around the head, or put further at the front with a strap
leading backward over the forehead. So the top can get the bottom to throw
back his head without having to use much force.
Further variations are to put
pegs or clips to the nostrils. *Cave*:
With every kind of nostril torture you have to be careful that there are
lots of vessels at the nasal septum which can bleed quickly and violently.
So under no circumstances you may use sharp instruments! With a gagged
bottom, the bleeding can go to the lung and cause his/her death. And very
severe nose bleeding (med. Epistaxis) can in itself lead to a life-threatening
shock rather quickly.
Nostril torture is an exquisite
kind of tortures, but the dangers of it are often underestimated.
Papiertiger: Asian Bondage
From Asia, especially from
Japan, come the forms of bondage where body and ropes are tried to put
together to a aesthetic and harmonic piece of art. This really is a form
of art. The pattern of the (mostly) ropes and the postures the person
who is tied up has to take complement each other and are put together
to an emotional statement.
Contrary to this in the West, especially in the USA, bondage mostly is
only a presentation of the tied up body, without taking care of how this
is achieved. Willie, John is the one who comes near the ideals of japanese
bondage, although his drawings show more strictness and order than aesthetic.
Today there is an increased japanese influence in the West, too; just
look at the works of Berquet, Gilles (see: Erotic Art Museum Hamburg).
In the meantime in the West this term is used for all kinds of bondage
which aim at a precise and beautiful connection between the ropes and
the body of the Bottom. Sometimes there is no clearcut difference between
elements of the West and those of the East; see 1.
Asian bondage in its pure form uses only ropes, which in Japan seem to
be made of hemp or jute mostly. The ropes should run symmetrically, cross
only rarely, and should lay tight around the body. Parallel ropes should
leave no space between them; especially when several loops are tied around,
say, the wrists.
There are some standard bondages.
To mention is for example the rope dress, which means ropes laid around
the torso of the bottom in a special kind, so that patterns develop, which
are discernible on the skin afterwards, too. Two of the best known kinds
are Diamond and Box. Both are depicted several books (see 2.) and easy
to learn in their basic form.
The origins of Asian Bondage are often presumed to be in the medieval
monasteries of Japan LV{Cal93), because it can be seen as a form of meditation,
too. It can be compared to some kind of rock garden, being formed constantly
by a gardener. Seeing it that way, the active part (the experienced) has
the task to mould the body into a certain form, to know exactly beforehand
what he wants to do in detail, or to know what to do by some kind of higher
knowledge automatically. The passive part (novice) is forced to a posture
where he can think and meditate well. Asian Bondage was taught in the
monasteries not only as a kind of punishment, but as a subject in itself.
The element of mediation is mostly missing in the West, so that it's better
to call it Bondage of the Asiatic kind instead of Asian Bondage.
As another source the Ninjitsu technique is cited; then bondage wasn't
something to do with meditation but rather a kind of punishment for a
crime or torture for war enemies.
The first public bondage performance in Japan was shown in 1965 by Osada
Sensei (which means Master Osada).
See Japan; there you can find
more about facial play and expression of the depicted bottoms and about
the colour black in the colour combination, and bondage games for a generell
discussion.
Further reading:
1. Grimme, Matthias T.J., 1999:
Das Bondage- Handbuch. Anleitung zum erotischen Fesseln. [Details]
2. Devon, Molly und Miller, Philip, 1995:
Screw the Roses, Send Me the Thorns. The Romance and Sexual Sorcery of
Sadomasochism
Papiertiger: Tongue Torture
That's a kind of torture popular
in Japan. Mostly pegs or clips are used for it, put on the stuck out tongue.
If you are not careful then haematomas can develop which restrict breathing
and swallowing.
Papiertiger: Chopstick Press
The japanese chopsticks can
be used in connection with two elastic bands for a highly effective torture
instrument similar to pegs or clips. Two chopsticks are put together and
then tied together on each end with an elastic band. You can use them
for breast torture or, a japanese variation, for the tongue torture. For
another variation in the beginning only one end is secured, and the other
only after an ice cub has been put between the two free ends. The part
you want to use pressure on, usually a nipple, is then put into the "V"
build by the ends without the ice cube. The ice now begins to melt slowly,
and so the pressures increases.
Cave: According to the strength of the elastic bands there can be permanent
damage to the tissue. Furthermore the safety regulations apply you can
find under pegs or clips and safety.
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- 2000 by Datenschlag - All Rights reserved
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