Kazami-ryū

Kazami-ryū is the style of Kazami Ranki, a kinbakushi from the Kansai region of Japan. Schools that teach it abroad, among them the Toronto Kinbaku Salon and London Kinbaku, describe it as named after “the Rope Master of Osaka”.

Kazami Ranki

Nawapedia records Kazami as the head of Circle M’s, an SM group he founded in 1996. From 2000 he wrote a monthly report for Mania Club magazine and began bondage training sessions at Circle M’s; his first listed performance was in Roppongi in December 2000, and from 2001 he held bondage classes at Nawa-ya and in Tokyo. From 2011 his workshops have taken him to the United States, Canada, France, Britain and Australia, and Nawapedia lists performances in London, Taipei, Paris, Los Angeles, Sydney and other cities between 2011 and 2015. He co-wrote a how-to manual published in 2016. Nawapedia uses the phrase “Kazami-style kinbaku” and notes that a new official teacher of the style was announced in 2025.

Character

The schools that teach Kazami-ryū describe it in practical terms. London Kinbaku presents it as known for safety, strength and comfort for the partner, with its own set of patterns called kata, and rates its chest harness exceptionally highly for comfort and stability. Shibari Classes names safety, comfort and balance as the style’s focus. It singles out the L-shaped frictions that Kazami uses to isolate the wraps of the takate kote as unique and particularly secure, and its instructor recalls how little tension Kazami put into the wraps and how the tie still came to feel secure as it progressed. The same course covers Kazami’s versions of the gote with two and three ropes and an older form without a stem.

The curriculum also gives attention to safety around nerves: London Kinbaku’s first level includes identifying nerve paths, tying around them and emergency procedures.

Teaching

Outside Japan, Kazami-ryū is taught as a graded course. The Toronto Kinbaku Salon offers it in four levels, from complete beginner to suspension transitions, taught in small groups. London Kinbaku’s level 1 ends with an assessment of a three-rope chest harness and is taught by an instructor whom Kazami recognized as master instructor for North America. London Kinbaku says its curriculum is meant to give students a clear way forward, and the Toronto Kinbaku Salon describes its teaching as progressive and step by step.

Characteristics

• Emphasis on safety, comfort and stability for the partner
• Distinctive L-shaped frictions that isolate the wraps
• Low initial tension that builds gradually
• Set patterns (kata) taught in graded levels