Akira Nawa

Akira Nawa is a Brazilian rope teacher and rigger based in São Paulo and the founder of the Escola de Shibari, a shibari school whose method is built on Akira Nawa’s own way of tying. The school’s website is the main published source for this career.

Rope career

According to the school’s “Sobre” (About) page, Akira Nawa began tying in 2011. For the first two years shibari was a way to explore personal sexuality and to communicate through the body; from 2013 the study of rope became more serious, and in 2016 Akira Nawa decided to make a living entirely from the practice. In 2017 came the opening of Estúdio Karada, which the page calls the first shibari studio in Brazil. In 2024 Akira Nawa opened Espaço Shibari in the Saúde district of São Paulo, intended to strengthen the community and give teaching a more structured setting. The page says that Akira Nawa has tied thousands of people and trained hundreds of students.

Akira Nawa also conceived, produces and directs Shibari Night, a rope performance evening held at the Love Cabaret venue.

The Escola de Shibari method

The school describes its method as coming from Akira Nawa’s style, which joins the structured technique of Japanese rope bondage with attention to grace, presence and listening. Instead of memorizing patterns, students are taught to understand what each rope does within a tie. The school lists five principles, among them technique, presence and structure, and stresses light, welcoming teaching with room to make mistakes, laugh and breathe. The About page describes the overall approach as technical precision combined with a contemporary and inclusive view of shibari, rooted in practice, listening and care for the learner.

Teaching takes place in small groups, in person at the studio in Saúde, which has a suspension structure, or online through recorded courses available anywhere in Brazil. The program runs from a monthly four-and-a-half-hour beginners’ workshop and a fundamentals course to a three-year continuing training; the first year of the 2027 cycle, Formação em Shibari I, consists of 36 in-person classes totaling 72 hours. Intensives cover subjects such as the applied physics of rope, advanced patterns and suspension, and the school hosts international guest teachers. It also maintains a free study library of texts, research and safety studies for the community.

Public statements

In a March 2026 feature on shibari in the Brazilian outlet Metrópoles, Akira Nawa, introduced as a shibari specialist, described the practice as having developed from simple binding into an erotic and sensory art form in which the ropes act as extensions of the tyer’s intention and create a close bond between the two people. Akira Nawa noted that jute is the most common rope because of its strength and texture, advised beginners to learn from experienced professionals, and compared the practice to a dance between control and freedom.