Kani 蟹

Japanese for crab; kani shibari or kaikyaku kani shibari binds each wrist or forearm to the leg on the same side, holding the legs open in a crab-like shape.

Kani (蟹) means crab (Jisho). SMpedia defines kani shibari (蟹縛り) as binding the right wrist with the right ankle and the left with the left, so the legs open wide and the body takes on a crab’s outline; it calls the tie a sibling of M-ji kaikyaku and gives 蟹縄 as another name. Japanese Wikipedia describes the same pairing and says the person is held on all fours. Shibari Study and RebornRopes use the longer name kaikyaku kani shibari (開脚蟹縛り), roughly open-leg crab tie, in which the arms are tied to the legs. Andrea Ropes and Shibari Mallorca add that the legs can be held further apart with lines to anchor points.

Sources

  1. 蟹 — Jisho.org
  2. 蟹縛り — SMpedia (Wayback Machine snapshot, 2025-01-21)
  3. 緊縛 — Wikipedia (Japanese)
  4. Glossary — Shibari Study
  5. Ka is for — RebornRopes
  6. Glossary — Andrea Ropes
  7. Japanese Rope Bondage Terms — Shibari Mallorca