明智 神凪 Akechi Kanna started SM career as a ‘New-half Mistress’ (Transsexual dominatrix), met 明智伝鬼 Akechi Denki and was so impressed, then became 縄師Nawashi(rope master).

明智 神凪 Akechi Kanna (X-gender) and 明智 神楽 Akechi Kagura are Japanese queer rope couple that has been together for 15 years.

They have traveled around the world to teach and perform Japanese Kinbaku Kanna succeeded from Akechi-sensei and has developed.
Kanna style is Semenawa style which draws inspiration from Hojojutsu 捕縄術, is very restrictive and includes complete control of the body and often plays with the breath.

Andrea Rimon is an artist and educator focused on movement, culture, and touch. They have been teaching tying since 2015. In addition to their experience with rope, Apikoros draws on their background in physical theater, dance, continental philosophy, gender and sexuality studies.

Barkas (they/them) is a bondage educator, performance artist, and writer. Their main focus is the development of various forms of language outside and on the border of verbal communication. With an academic background in physics, mathematics, history, and philosophy, their exploration of possibilities within and around rope bondage includes embedding the practice of tying into a larger context and the deconstruction of those contexts. Their contribution to the bondage narrative includes the development of Ranboo – a highly dynamic way of tying, “The City of Kinbaku”- a pedagogical concept for teaching Kinbaku, and the interview metaphor – as explicated in their book “Archaeology of Personalities”. Aside from bondage, their research and work include studies about identity and sexuality in a broader sense. In October they co-organized the international conference “Queer Practices/Queer Embodiment”. Barkas is based in Vancouver, Canada.

Barrett (they/them) started their rope journey with simple bedroom ties around 12 years ago. Starting five years ago they have taken a very focused interest in Japanese rope, with an even more narrow focus on studying under Akechi Kanna for the past two and a half years. Indigo (they/she) has been bottoming for roughly two decades, and has taken an interest in learning the tying side of things for the past five years.

They have been tying together for five years, with a shared love for rope that emphasizes connection, intimacy, sexuality, and sadism. They received the title of deshi to Akechi Kanna in 2022, and strive to continue earning that honor through their tying and teaching efforts.

Caritia: lives in a queer, gender-fluid, BiPoC (assigned female at birth) body. Walking a path with invisible disabilities and the living challenges which accompany that life. Educator, creative and ongoing work in process, whose advocacy for establishing boundaries is as strong as the desire to love with truth and honesty. On a quiet mission to de-stigmatize difference and return power to each individual. Using the language of kink to the point of geeky excitement. Co-owner & co-founder of Karada House & OhYesPlease Berlin Germany

Ceci is a Berlin based queer, kinky and fat sexologist, kink activist, and rope nerd. They have been organizing rope events and teaching shibari since 2014, and a sex therapist since spring 2021. ​Ceci teaches Japanese inspired rope bondage, BDSM and sexuality from top, bottom and switch perspectives. Their goal is to create safer spaces for people to communicate through rope and kink.

Hi, I’m CJ! I’m a tall, fat, muppety human who’s been doing this ropey thing since 2017. I tie, am tied, and self tie, with a particular specialization in dubious suspensions for the sake of science. The word “can’t” makes me deeply suspicious. As such, I’m compelled to find the adaptations and modifications that make suspensions possible for all bodies. Curiosity and collaboration make my world go round, and I’ll *absolutely* help you make your weirdest rope dreams into reality.

Gandalf is a Shibari artist and instructor based in Shanghai. Originally trained to be a cognitive scientist, they now work as an artistic expression teacher and founded Embodied Flow, a platform dedicated to facilitating embodied thinking and dialogues through various artistic practices. Gandalf teaches a style of tying that borrows heavily from different styles of theatre and dance. It aims to explore the potential of rope in contexts beyond eroticism and emphasizes attention and empathy in tying. They have also started the “Kinbaku Theatre” initiative to further push the boundaries of rope performance.

My approach to shibari has evolved as the result of over a decade of practice on both sides of the ropes and a broad range of influences that I appropriate, mix and develop in my own practice. This has shaped my teaching style into one that seeks to reflect the experience of both tying partners on a deep level. I have a strong belief that shibari should not be prescriptive and encourage students to explore it as a flexible set of tools; adapting each tie to the body of the tied partner, and to their needs and desires within each individual situation. My teaching process aims to enable this by giving students a framework of the fundamental principles behind shibari; including safety efficiency and fluency, but also body awareness, communication, and conscious consideration of their own experiences and motivations.

I absorbed most of my technical rigging style a natural process of observation and experience from inside the ropes of the people I was tied by as a model. In this respect, I have been lucky to have had a broad range of influences.

hua hua (she/her) is an artist and Shibari teacher. She is the founder of Borderline Shibari, a platform dedicated to creating a mindful and conscious Shibari community. She began the first public rope art classes in Shanghai, and has held numerous workshops, performances and Shibari events across China. She is now based in Europe and continues to develop Borderline online and offline.

She believes that rope bondage is a practice of authenticity. To her, ropes build the bridge between two beings; between interior and exterior and between the elevated and the underground. In addition to her Shibari work, her art work also includes experimental nude photography, physical theatre, installations and she frequently collaborates with other artists to encourage cross-cultural integration. Her artwork is influenced by BDSM, just as her Shibari teaching derives techniques from other disciplines.

hua hua’s Shibari teaching style is centred around intention, expression and the emotional process of rope. Her work has been featured on various Shibari platforms such as Shibari Study and Queer Rope festival.

What she enjoys about rope, is the transfer and exchange of energy that happens between the top and the bottom. She uses those moments to further get in tune with her body just as she does in pole dancing and continuously discover how that skill set transfers into rope. In seeking to grow the participation for BIPOC in kink within her community she strives to bring more connective opportunities to others.

It was love at first tie. During her journey she realized how few bodies and people that looked like her existed in rope spaces and platforms. She takes delight in the deep connection and trust between Top and bottom as well as the pain and beauty involved as both tie together. This venture has allowed her to take her passions of mental health and rope, combining them together to share with others her experiences of healing through rope and kink explorations.

Ms. Reemah is a queer woman of color from Atlanta. She has been a part of the kink community since 2017. Ms. Reemah is a member of the sisterhood Black FemDoms (BFD)-Atlanta. Ms. Reemah derives immense joy and connectedness through rope play. There is an intimate connection between a rigger and rope bottom that is profound and unlike no other. While also providing an outlet for creativity by manifesting the beauty and strength of the bottom in rope.

POCs are disproportionately represented in the kink community. As a queer black Femme Domme, Ms. Reemah has taken strides to increase the visibility, education, participation, and awareness of POCs in the kink community.

Murasaki met Yukimura Haruki in 2003, soon after her debut as a professional mistress, when he came to the club where she was working to teach kinbaku. Shortly after, she began assisting him on video shoots, which allowed her to continue learning his style of tying. When Yukimura Sensei started to offer formal instruction in Yukimura-ryu in 2006, she became one of his first students. She accompanied Yukimura’s overseas workshops as an assistant instructor in 2012 and 2014. In 2014, she became the first Japanese and first female certified instructor of Yukimura-ryu. After sudden pass of Yukimura Sensei in March, 2016, she began to accept a limited number of students with a genuine interest in learning Yukimura-ryu.

Yukimura-ryu 10th licensed instructor(2014-) / ex-professional Mistress(2002-2018)

Overseas workshops and seminars:
As an assistant to Yukimura Haruki sensei: LA(2012), Sydney(2014), Melbourne(2014)
Alone after the death of Yukimura sensei: LA(2017), Shanghai(2018), Milan(2022)
In Japan, mainly private lessons to high hobbyists and professional mistressees.

Pauline Massimo is an interdisciplinary human originally from Brazil and based in Barcelona, which mostly focused in perform, teach, photograph and organise Shibari related events professionally, but with experience background in circus, yoga, dance, plastic and conceptual art, and more.

They started into Shibari around mid-2012 and since then was a non-stop journey in self-discovery and learning process. They have been into a vast number of workshops and have equally experienced as a rope model, rigging and self-tying.

Pauline is educated and interested in the broader range that Shibari can provide as a practice, like classic Japanese style as more contemporary mixed styles, they are mostly interested in the mental and physical challenge that this practicum can offer as much as the challenge of creating experiences that adapt for different tastes and capabilities.

René de Sans is a Berlin based, visual artist with a focus on photography and film. Her primary artist interest lies on the exploration of human bodies as visual, visceral and psychological landscapes, that express, incarnate, question and deconstruct ideas of identity, gender sexuality and taboo.

René first came into contact with rope in 2013 while modeling for private lessons and started to develop tying skills with self-tying. Eventually she also started to tie others and finds herself comfortable on all sides of the ropes.

Tying most of the time and sometimes tied, began his practice with ropes 5 years ago, when attended a face-to-face class and learned the knots but did not enjoy the space, too heterosexual and machista. Since then, began to form groups with women and sex-gender dissidents where he shared everything he was learning by taking online courses. Has a project in México called ‘Jorogumo Shibari’ and with his partner (Ixchel), does performances, workshops, and different types of events related to ropes, always for queer people.

Roser, (she/her) from Venezuela, living in Barcelona, Spain, found Shibari back in 2020 as a way of creative expression, she has also been creating artworks with photography and drawing over a decade now.

Her short and intense journey in Shibari has taken place so far at Espacio Nos in Barcelona learning and building community. Besides studying regularly with Pauline Massimo, she also attended workshops by international presenters such as Nawashi Kanna & Kagura, Barkas & Addie, Tamandua & Briki and Sophia Rose. Over this time she has had the chance to explore ropes as a rigger, as a rope bottom and self tying, in which she finds herself able to broaden her artistic self, experimenting with movement and body expression through performance at Espacio Nos in Barcelona, Madrid and even online for Knotty Portugal.

Her background as psychologist and psychotherapist working with trauma and violence, has led her to be very active and passionate about educating and facilitating on safe(r) rope practices and consent in her local community.

I’m an artist, facilitator, and educator based in London, and I’ve been exploring rope bondage and BDSM since 2013. My interests and passions lie in thinking about what’s beneath the surface. I’m interested in exploring different practices which support us to make sense of what it means to be human, to connect to oneself and each other.

Tina is co-founder of the Queer-Crew Pornflakes in Milan and was actively involved in queer performance 1998-2012. A Berlin based non-binary dyke, Tina has been organizing queer spaces, exhibitions and installations as well as performing and DJing all over Europe. Tina got sucked into the deep end of rope bondage when she met Ceci in 2019 and the couple started tying together. Tina likes to break stereotypes in rope bondage.