Hotaru Centro Cultural
A Japanese language, martial arts and culture centre that includes shibari among its cultural workshops, taught as a non-erotic practice of connection and body awareness. The course is open to beginners, includes rope, and was listed at MXN 2,400 per workshop in November 2026.
Hotaru Centro Cultural is a Japanese language and culture center in Coyoacán. According to its “about” page, the idea for the center first came up in 2019. It offers Japanese courses and exam preparation, its own dojo for martial arts such as karate, judo, aikido, iaido and kyudo, and cultural workshops including calligraphy, manga, bookbinding, sumi-e, origami, bonsai and ikebana. Its founder and academic director is the philosopher and Japanese teacher Miguel Elguea. The center argues that learning a language means engaging with the culture around it, and shibari is one of the cultural workshops it offers for that reason.
The shibari workshop is taught by Luviela. Her staff profile says she holds a degree in philosophy from UAM Iztapalapa and a master’s in dance research from CENIDI, has directed her own performance project, Purifying, since 2016, and has practiced shibari since 2018, performing at Karada House in Berlin and at Festín 2023.
Hotaru deliberately frames the workshop as non-erotic. It presents rope as a tool for bodily connection, building trust, emotional release and healing, and says it respects the practice’s artistic and symbolic origins. The workshop is open to all levels, needs no special flexibility, and starts from communication, consent and basic technique taught safely. Natural-fiber or cotton rope is included in the fee, and participants only need comfortable, close-fitting clothes. The page also links the course to Japanese aesthetic ideas, such as attention to process over result and the connection between body, material and intention.
In November 2026 the workshop was listed at MXN 2,400. A group had already started, and the center said another would open soon and invited interested people to get in touch or book a free trial class.