San Francisco Shibari
A small San Francisco studio run by the rope artist Fritz (JuteJitsu), offering private lessons alongside group workshops capped at four couples. Much of the workshop program follows the Kinoko style, and it has also hosted skill-share rope salons.
San Francisco Shibari is the teaching and performance practice of the rope artist Fritz, who works under the name JuteJitsu. The site says Fritz has several years of professional experience, has taught or performed in Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Tokyo and San Francisco, trains in kinbaku in Tokyo with Hajime Kinoko and is a certified Ichinawa instructor. The stated aim is to share meditative Japanese rope bondage in an approachable, inclusive way, with rope framed as a path to trust, beauty and a platonic kind of intimacy.
Group workshops. The workshop program follows Kinoko’s Ichinawa curriculum, which the site says it teaches with the same structure and attention to detail as his Tokyo dojo. The eight-day sequence moves from an introduction to kinbaku and basic rope handling, through leg ties, two- and three-rope chest harnesses (the latter for suspension), waist harnesses and Kinoko’s diamond harness (hishi karada), to gyaku ebi floor play and suspendable mermaid ties. Ichinawa workshops were listed on Thursdays at $65 per person, and a couples series has usually run on Tuesday evenings (prices as shown on the site in November 2026). Advanced suspension workshops are offered to rope communities on request.
Private lessons and sessions. Private lessons take place at a studio in the Mission at $100 per hour and cover everything from fundamentals to advanced suspension, which the site keeps mostly for private teaching. Separate one-to-one rope sessions, described as platonic, are offered to people who want to be tied rather than learn ($450 for three hours, as listed in November 2026), along with rope photo shoots and on-site performances. Suspension is possible in a session but not promised, since the site treats it as high risk.
Approach. The FAQ stresses enthusiastic consent, says the person being tied decides what they experience and that pain is optional, and names circulation, nerve health and emotional well-being as the main risks. Fritz uses jute for kinbaku but also ties and teaches with other materials, and shares rope during lessons.