Ebi 海老縛り

Ebi (海老) is the Japanese word for shrimp, and the ebi tie, ebi shibari (海老縛り), takes its name from the curled shape of the body it creates. Rope365 calls it the shrimp tie and describes it as a tie that brings the ankles to the neck or chest so the person is bent forward. Japanese Wikipedia describes the same form: the legs are crossed as in seated meditation and the head is brought forward toward the feet and held there.

History

The ebi has a documented historical forerunner. The dictionary Daijisen defines ebi-zeme (海老責め) as a torture of the Edo period in which the prisoner sat cross-legged with the hands tied behind and was bent forward and bound until the neck and feet met. English Wikipedia places it among the four tortures for obtaining a confession set out in the 1742 Kujikata Osadamegaki, a guide for government officials, alongside whipping, a kneeling torture (ishidaki) and upside-down hanging. Rope365 likewise counts it among four Edo-period torture techniques. Japanese Wikipedia reports one explanation of the name: the face of a person under ebi-zeme turned red like a boiled shrimp.

Shibari Study counts ebi shibari among the oldest kata, or set forms, of shibari. Its modern version keeps the historical structure, a crossed-leg base (agura) with the upper body brought down to the legs. Gyaku ebi, the reverse shrimp, inverts the idea by arching the body backward.

Nipponica, the Shogakukan encyclopedia, in an entry by Ishii Ryōsuke, says that the system of torture became well established during the Edo period, especially after the Kujikata Osadamegaki was enacted in 1742. It sorts three methods under the name rōmon, questioning in the jail: whipping, stone-holding and ebi-zeme. The fourth method, tsuri-zeme, was the only one the law called gōmon, torture proper, and Nipponica describes it as raising the prisoner into the air with the hands tied behind the back. Nipponica adds that ebi-zeme was used when repeated whipping or stone-holding had not produced a confession, and that it was rarely carried out, while the other two were common. The Sekai Daihyakka Jiten entry by Katō Hideaki, on the same Kotobank page, lists the same four methods. The wider setting of rope in Edo law is on Hojōjutsu: rope and the law in Edo Japan.

English Wikipedia and Nipponica each list four Edo-period methods. Shibari Study calls ebi-zeme the third technique, which matches the order in Nipponica. Bob Roos writes in the RopeMarks glossary that the Tokugawa shogunate mandated the ebi in 1742 as one of seven official punishments. Eric Shore’s glossary says the ebi appears in many historical manuals and artworks. English Wikipedia describes the fourth method as upside-down hanging; Nipponica describes the prisoner being raised into the air with the hands tied behind the back.

Variations by teacher and school

• Rope365 (Ebi McKnotty) gives two versions in different lessons. Rope365 describes a crossed-leg shrimp position with the torso folded forward and says a chest structure can be used in place of rope around the neck. The quick-release lesson ties the head to the crossed ankles, recommends a quick release because bending forward restricts breathing, and says the arms can be tied behind the back with a quick-release cuff for a more restrictive version.
• English Wikipedia describes a shrimp tie using a chest harness and a crossed-ankle tie, with the upper body folded toward the legs. Wikipedia lists variants that draw the knees inward or use the neck in place of the chest harness.
• Hajime Kinoko teaches what Shibari Study titles the Fuse Ebi Tie, a face-down shrimp, in a lesson the school rates level 2, intermediate. The lesson page is a course listing; Kinbaku World has not seen the lesson itself.
• Eric Shore, a Lyon teacher, distinguishes ebi from agura in the glossary: Shore describes agura as a cross-legged tie and ebi as much more restrictive, with the upper body near the ankles.
• Names differ. Rope365 writes ebi shibari as 海老繰り, English Wikipedia says the ebi is also called kuri (繰り), and Reborn Ropes says that Western rope communities sometimes call similar patterns forced bows.
• LA Rope Dojo announced a 2015 class in which Master K and Zetsu were to demonstrate several versions of the ebi and gyaku ebi and provide historical background; the announcement does not identify the versions.

Difficulty and risk

No source consulted gives the ebi a teaching level. Because it combines a leg tie with an arm tie behind the back, as in the historical description, Kinbaku World lists it as intermediate, the same level it gives the takate kote.

The risk is described more clearly. Shibari Study calls the position remarkably intense and says that it causes positional asphyxia. English Wikipedia notes that the Edo-period torture cut off circulation to the legs, and its article on bondage positions reports a burning sensation through the body when the position is held for a long time. Kinbaku World therefore rates the ebi as high risk. This page describes the tie; it does not teach it.