Tanuki 狸
Japanese for raccoon dog; tanuki shibari binds the wrists and ankles close together so the person can be lifted like carried game, though riggers apply the name to several forms.
Tanuki (狸) is the raccoon dog (Jisho), also a shape-shifting trickster of Japanese folklore (Kinbakuwiki). SMpedia describes the classic form as lying face up with the hips bent, the hands and ankles bound at nearly one point and lifted. When the body is not fully raised it is usually called kemono shibari; hung from the hands and feet, kemono tsuri or tanuki shibari. Definitions differ: SMpedia notes that Shima Shikō uses tanuki shibari for the arms holding the closed legs at the thighs. Shibari Study and Andrea Ropes describe hands and feet tied together, SHIBAKU compares the lifted person to hunted prey, and Andrea Ropes credits Randa Mai with popularizing a face-down suspension from all four limbs. SMpedia’s gallery opens with a 1949 illustration by Itō Hikozō.