Shiawase
Italian kinbaku teacher and performer who began studying Japanese bondage with Kurogami at the end of 2016 under Riccardo Wildties and Red Sabbath, co-founded the Kinkyphilia project and co-teaches Kinbaku LuXuria workshops with Kurogami at Peony Studio in Turin and abroad.
Shiawase is an Italian kinbaku teacher, model and performer who works with the rigger Kurogami. The two teach at Peony Studio in Turin and work in the Kinbaku LuXuria style of Riccardo Wildties. Published information about Shiawase comes from the joint biography printed with their workshops and performances; it describes the pair together and gives no separate account of Shiawase.
Training
According to the biography used by Knot Here Amsterdam for a 2025 performance, Kurogami and Shiawase began studying Japanese bondage together at the end of 2016 with Riccardo Wildties and Red Sabbath. A 2027 workshop listing at Peony Studio adds that they began this path after meeting Wildties and Red Sabbath in 2016, when they started studying the Kinbaku LuXuria style, and that they began teaching and performing in Europe, Japan and the United States in 2018. Kurogami is named as a certified Kinbaku LuXuria instructor; the texts do not give Shiawase a formal title in the system.
In 2017 the pair created Kinkyphilia, a project for sharing their way of living kinbaku and alternative sexuality. In December 2019, both texts say, they tied at the 25th Nawa Naka Kai in Tokyo, the session series hosted by Naka Akira, alongside Wildties and Naka.
Peony Studio
Peony Studio describes itself as a venue in Turin dedicated to the study of Japanese rope bondage. Its name honors the legacy of Naka Akira and his peony tattoo, and its stated approach describes kinbaku as depth rather than display, asking rather than commanding, and tying a person rather than a body. Shiawase and Kurogami are named as the teachers of two of its intensive workshops. “3 Dimensions”, for couples who have completed the studio’s first class, is devoted to the three dimensions of kinbaku and to integrating the spatial, aesthetic and relational sides of the tie. “Shadow” is an advanced two-day workshop for a small number of couples, scheduled for January 2027.
Teaching and performing abroad
The pair also teach and perform away from Turin. Knot Here Amsterdam hosted them in June 2025 for a performance followed by a rope jam. For 21–22 November 2026 they are booked at Subspace in Prague for “Spicy”, a sold-out workshop on bringing personal kinks into rope, with the focus on fantasy, sensation and play rather than set ties, and for that evening’s Shibari Night, billed as an authentic SM session in which rope plays a supporting role. Heartland Kinbaku in Chicago, which regularly hosts teachers of the style, lists a Level 3 workshop with Kurogami and Shiawase for December 2027.