Germany

One of the early German figures in Japanese rope came out of the country’s SM publishing and party world. In Hamburg, Matthias T. J. Grimme co-owns Charon Verlag, a publisher of BDSM and fetish books, and publishes the SM magazine Schlagzeilen. German Wikipedia records that he helped organize the Les Fleurs du Mal parties, the country’s first public SM party series, until 1998, that he has given workshops and performances on BDSM and Japanese bondage since 1998, and that from 2000 he traveled repeatedly to Tokyo to meet bondage masters. His German-language handbooks include Das Bondage-Handbuch, in its ninth edition by 2012, and Japan-Bondage (2011). His place in the wider story is told in Kinbaku in Europe.

Fairs, festivals and an exchange

Two recurring events founded in 2004 gave the country national meeting points. BoundCon, a bondage and fetish fair in Munich, was first held in June 2004; German Wikipedia puts its attendance at about 5,000 and describes trade stands, shows and workshops with riggers and models invited from Europe and North America, plus a smaller autumn event, BoundOne, since 2016. In July 2004 the choreographer Felix Ruckert launched the xplore festival at Dock 11 in Berlin, a program on creative sexuality, BDSM and tantra. According to Dock 11’s portrait, his venue schwelle7, open from 2007 to 2016, hosted teachers such as Osada Steve, Arisue Gō, Hajime Kinoko and Naka Akira, and in 2012 he started EURIX, an exchange for experienced European riggers and models. Ruckert’s EURIX page describes it as a week held twice a year and lists editions in spring and autumn, with the spring editions of 2020 and 2021 cancelled during the pandemic and dates announced into 2028; its jams and performance evenings are open to the public. In Hamburg, the Passion fair, which bills itself as a European BDSM and fetish fair, also programs shibari workshops; its November 2026 edition lists several.

Lineage schools

Japanese schools have put down roots as well. As of February 2024, German Wikipedia counted four schools affiliated with Osada Steve’s Tokyo dojo outside Japan, two of them in Germany, in Königswinter and Bremen, all teaching the same Osada-ryū kyū system. The official Osada-ryū dojo list now names three dojos outside Japan; the German one is Shibari Bremen, where Andree has been a licensed instructor since 2020.

How the cities relate

Each city guide shows a different side of this history. Berlin is where xplore, schwelle7 and EURIX grew. Hamburg is the home of Grimme’s publishing house and of the Passion fair. Munich is home to BoundCon. The guides describe each city’s current studios, jams and teachers. For ways to begin, see Ways into shibari.