Agura 胡座縛り

Agura is an everyday Japanese word. The dictionary Daijisen defines it as sitting with both knees spread to the sides and the legs crossed, and gives the spellings 胡坐 and 胡座 as well as the Sino-Japanese reading koza. In rope, agura shibari (胡座縛り) is a tie that holds the legs in this crossed position. Rope365 gives the English name cross-legged pose, and Shibari Study adds a second name, zazen shibari, which it takes from the prayer position of Buddhist monks. English Wikipedia lists agura shibari among Japanese ties and describes a tie it spells agoura as a milder relative of the ebi.

History

The posture is older than modern kinbaku. Daijisen’s entry on ebi-zeme, an Edo-period torture, describes the prisoner being made to sit cross-legged with the hands tied behind before the body was bent forward and bound tight. Shibari Study describes the modern ebi the same way: it starts from agura and then brings the body down toward the legs. Agura is therefore both a tie of its own and the base of one of the oldest named forms.

Japanese Wikipedia, as mirrored on Weblio, says the cross-legged sitting style is held to have come from 胡, as the written form shows, and that in Japan it was once the ordinary and formal way for men to sit; it says that from the Edo period onward kneeling (seiza) became the formal sitting form. Eric Shore’s glossary says the name zazen shibari appears in historical sources, after the cross-legged prayer posture of Zen Buddhism.

Where to see it tied

These are free public tutorials by the teachers named below. Kinbaku World has not tested them. Read safety before you start, and find in-person teaching on the places pages. This page describes the tie; it does not teach it.

• Lazarus Redmayne, TheDuchy: Agura (Simple Version) is a 19:07 video in English with spoken explanation. It shows two simple versions, the second from about 8:50. The teacher says at 0:18 and again at 8:43 that the tie is not suitable for suspension, and the video description says the same. The video talks about whether the rope takes in the feet (from about 2:45), and near the end the teacher remarks that the second version is not very secure.
• Corps à Cordes: Agura Shibari for Beginners, version 1 is a silent video with no caption track. It shows a clothed person tying their own crossed legs; an end card gives information about the school’s classes.

Variations by teacher and school

• Rope365 (Ebi McKnotty) calls the tie a crossing-ankle tie. It says a minimal version binds only the ankles and a more restrictive one can add the waist, thighs, calves or feet. A separate Rope365 lesson shows a seated version joining ankles and waist and discusses a two-half-hitch lock.
• Lazarus Redmayne’s TheDuchy description of the agura calls it a class of ties that keep a partner cross-legged. The simple tutorial shows a few versions that vary the leg ties and the ropes around the waist, and its video description says that version is not appropriate for suspension because it lacks proper force distribution and locked bands; the description points to a separate TheDuchy tutorial for a suspension-suitable agura.
• Belle Corde recommends the illustrated agura for floor use, suggests that adaptation would be needed for suspension, and presents it as one of many versions.
• Eric Shore treats agura as a general term for any tie that holds a seated partner cross-legged, and says it should not be confused with the much more restrictive ebi.

Uses and difficulty

On its own, agura is a seated tie that leaves the upper body free to be tied separately or folded forward. A 2023 workshop at the rope studio Karada House demonstrated agura on the floor, in the air and in transitions. The studio described the tie as demanding yet supportive and adaptable, and only those already at ease with suspensions and transitions were invited to tie along. No source consulted grades the floor version alone; Kinbaku World lists it as intermediate because of its suspended uses.

Risk

Sitting cross-legged is itself one of the everyday postures that a 2024 case series names as a common cause of peroneal nerve compression, most often at the fibular head, and a ShibariClasses lesson on leg ties names the same nerve as a reason not to tie too close to the knee. The greater danger that sources name for this posture comes when it is folded into an ebi, which Shibari Study links to positional asphyxia.