Styles

The schools and lineages of Japanese rope.

• Akechi-ryū明智流The kinbaku lineage rooted in the stage and teaching work of Akechi Denki (1940–2005), carried on since 2022 by Akechi Kanna under the joint name Akechi-ryū / Kanna-ryū.
• Hojōjutsu schoolsThe many classical Japanese martial-arts schools (ryūha) that taught hojōjutsu, the art of restraining a person with rope, usually as one part of a wider curriculum. Several kinbaku styles name them as an influence.
• Ichinawa-kai一縄会The rope school and teaching lineage of Hajime Kinoko in Tokyo, with a graded curriculum from 10th grade upward and an instructor license that only Kinoko can issue and that must be renewed every two years.
• Kazami-ryūThe style named after Kazami Ranki, a kinbakushi from the Kansai region who heads an SM circle, taught abroad as a graded curriculum valued for secure, comfortable chest harnesses and a set of patterns called kata.
• Naka-ryūThe style of Naka Akira, the student of Nureki Chimuo at the Kinbiken study group, known for precise semenawa in hemp rope and for a slow, continuous flow between positions.
• Osada-ryū長田流The school of kinbaku that Osada Steve established in Tokyo in 2007, named after his teacher Osada Eikichi and taught through a graded kyū system and nine guiding "gates".
• Shibaraku-shiki縛楽式The Tokyo method of bakushi Takase Shinnosuke, which presents itself as a dialogue-based, embracing style of contemporary kinbaku and is taught in small classes alongside the Shibaraku salon.
• Yagami-ryūThe school of Yagami Ren, a Tokyo rigger and aikidō practitioner, built on rope technique, body control and the study of key points, and on his own idea of sekibaku in place of semenawa.
• Yukimura-ryū雪村流The style of kinbaku developed by Yukimura Haruki — gentle and emotional, built on "caressing rope" rather than the hard, punishing rope of semenawa.