Akechi Denki 明智伝鬼
Tokyo kinbakushi (1940–2005) active from the 1970s whose stage shows and adult videos helped popularize kinbaku, and whose name passed to a successor in 2022.
Akechi Denki was a Japanese kinbakushi born in Tokyo on September 11, 1940. Japanese Wikipedia says he was active from the 1970s, worked on a large number of adult videos and gave frequent SM shows, and credits that work with helping to spread kinbaku to a wider public. English Wikipedia names him with Osada Eikichi as one of two famous nawashi.
Early influences and career
According to the Japanese Wikipedia article on Kitan Club, Akechi read that magazine as a schoolboy and was drawn to its images of bound women. The website Shibari Dojo says he read Uramado as well, began as a young man by writing for the erotic theater acts staged between films in adult cinemas, and in the 1970s worked with Sakurada Denjirō on experimental stage pieces and happenings. It places him at the center of Tokyo’s SM stage in the late 1980s, with shows at venues linked to Sakurada, and describes regular television and live appearances in the 1990s.
Japanese Wikipedia also describes him as a researcher of hojōjutsu and says he was well known abroad, where his rope was valued as art. Shibari Dojo credits him with introducing the gote, hishi and kikkō patterns, which in its account Western rope practice later took up widely, and says he fitted each tie to the person and the situation in front of him.
Stage presence
He was known for dressing entirely in black and wearing dark sunglasses. Japanese Wikipedia explains this as a deliberate choice: in his view the woman should be the focus of rope art and the rope tier should stay in the background. He performed at the opening reception of the Vanilla Gallery in Tokyo in July 2003, and worked on photobooks and videos into the 2000s.
Death and succession
Akechi died of multiple organ failure on July 17, 2005, aged 64. Japanese Wikipedia lists two announced direct disciples, Akechi Enka and Akechi Raika, and says both later returned their names, leaving no active successor. Later sources describe a different situation: the rope artist Kanna, who began studying with him in 2000, took the name Akechi Kanna in 2022 and represents Akechi Kikaku, which manages his legacy and rights. Shibari Dojo dates the name-taking to September 11, 2022, his birthday, and notes that the succession drew some debate.