Kinbaku 緊縛

Japanese word for binding something tightly, and the traditional Japanese term for artistic or erotic rope bondage.

Translated word for word, kinbaku is “tight binding”. Wikipedia notes that outside BDSM circles the word does not suggest sexual bondage; within them it is the traditional term for artistic or erotic tying. Some Western practitioners keep kinbaku for the whole practice and shibari for purely aesthetic rope, but the same article finds no evidence that Japanese practitioners draw that line.

Sources

  1. Japanese bondage — Wikipedia
  2. 緊縛 — Jisho.org Japanese-English dictionary