Shibari means "to tie" in Japanese,
This art comes from hojojutsu, a samouraï practice that was used in Japan around 1600’s.
There was two circumstances to use hojojutsu,
The first one was on the battlefield to capture the enemy.
The second one was to transfer prisoners from point A to point B.
At this time, samouraï or important people couldn’t be tied by everyone. They had to be tied by a hojojutsu specialist who did it in specific ways. And through these ties, people could know what was their social status and what was their crime.
After the end of the samouraï period, hojojutsu nearly disappeared and, only thanks to the japanese theater, the knowledge has been saved, but with some modifications to make it more safe during the performances.
In 1908, Ito Seiu a photographer and painter decided to use this art with his partner. I create some painting and photography of his session. This is considered the beginning of modern shibari.
In 1950, these documents have been published in a pornographic magazine and it's from that point that shibari started to spread all around the world.
Today the majority of people, and it was my case, know the shibari through the term "bondage" on videos that we can easily find on pornographic websites. They often think that it’s only sexual, violent, an extreme activity and only reserved to dominant / submissive practitioners.
But Shibari is lot of more, and this is what I want to show in my photography, in my show and in my training class.
