Takate kote

The takate kote — in its behind-the-back form, ushiro takate kote — captures the upper body and both arms, which are folded behind the back. It is the foundational form for most ties in kinbaku and shibari.

The rope passes around the upper arms — the area where rope-related nerve injuries are most often reported. A 2023 case series in the journal Cureus examined ten people injured during full-body suspensions: nine had injuries to the radial nerve, which runs along the back of the upper arm near the deltoid. The authors stress knowing the course of this nerve as a way to prevent injury, along with limiting how long full suspensions last and encouraging the person tied to speak up about any discomfort or unusual sensation.

Sources differ on where it sits in a learning path. Crash Restraint files its takate kote variants under intermediate floorwork, while Anatomie Studio in London teaches the tie in the first course of its foundation series, alongside safety and risk.

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.

marilynuntiedbythomas (channel name): 2 Rope TK is a 12:58 video in English with spoken explanation (automatic English captions). Its description says it was taught for a Studio Friction Beginner 2 class, and the channel gives no personal name. It teaches a two-rope version. Unlike the other two tutorials here, it talks through its choices aloud: it discusses where the lower wraps sit and says they are the most likely source of nerve compression (from 3:39), shows adding a rope partway through (about 5:40 to 6:30) and covers the kanuki cinches (from about 8:55).
Innovative Fiber Arts (Vermont Rope Bondage): The Takate Kote is an English blog article from 25 February 2014 with photographs of a clothed person, many marked with red arrows. The school says this is the version it teaches and gives its reasons for tying it differently from other riggers. It names the radial nerve, mentions dressing the bands and says the kanuki area is sensitive. It is the only written tutorial on this list.
Corps à Cordes: Takate kote version 6 - Special Face Up is a 10:25 silent video: it has no caption track and its audio measured as silence. The tie is worked on a clothed person. On-screen cards in French, from about 1:20, say the video has no audio commentary and that safety rules and tips are given in the school’s classes; a closing card points to where the school’s class dates are listed. The school’s video page describes its videos as free to access.

Variations by teacher and school

Names and what counts as a takate kote. Steve Osada of Osada-ryū says that some use takatekote for a position with crossed wrists and an acute angle between forearms and upper arms. ESINEM calls the standard OS TK more accurately a gote because it lacks the typical high-hand position. Nawapedia lists four usages, including any tie with the wrists behind the back and rope above and below the breasts and one in which the wrists must be high. See gote.
Number of ropes. Kinbaku Academy’s Osada-ryū course uses 2TK and 3TK for two-rope and three-rope versions, and its course page lists a 3TK in the back. Rope365 builds the tie in stages from one rope to two and then a third, and says the amount of rope in a two-rope version varies with rope length and shoulder width. Japanese Wikipedia describes a version with two ropes, one for the wrists and upper chest and one for the lower chest, and a third that can be added for hanging. Rope Bite Pgh’s class covers two methods for the first rope, two for the second and a few third-rope variations.
Direction of tension. Innovative Fiber Arts says it combines reverse tension in the upper band with forward tension in the lower bands; it says the former helps center the stem and prevent tightening that sometimes occurs with forward tension, while the latter improves flow and appearance.
Where the bands sit. Innovative Fiber Arts advises against placing its two bands too close together and cautions about the radial nerve. ESINEM favors closely spaced wraps with the upper wrap on the lower slope of the deltoid and warns that wide spacing may put the lower wrap below the middle of the upper arm, while stressing that this generalization has exceptions; ESINEM reports that Osada Steve generally favors high, close wraps. The marilynuntiedbythomas video says it aims for the lower wrap to sit higher rather than lower, while noting that some people tied want it about three inches below the top one. Rope365 puts the second wrap right under the first for most people and leaves a small gap for others.
Cinches. Rope365 calls the cinches on the top wrap optional and a trade-off, because they keep the wrap from creeping toward the neck but can press on nerves at the armpit, and calls the lower cinches essential for a stable structure. The marilynuntiedbythomas video keeps the kannuki close to the body rather than the arm to avoid pinched skin, and Innovative Fiber Arts also says the area is sensitive.
Wrists and arm position. Innovative Fiber Arts shows crossed wrists as one choice among many, including the arms held parallel with the hands near the elbows, and calls the wrist position a big topic of discussion. ESINEM contrasts the Western placing of the wrists with their inner sides together with the Japanese tendency to turn the inner sides toward the back, and says this changes which nerve lies against the wrist binding. Rope365 says some teachers define the box tie narrowly, with the arms horizontal or the wrists crossed, and others accept any symmetric position with the wrists behind and the elbows bent outward, which it says includes people who cannot cross their wrists.
Third-rope patterns by lineage. Rope365 says the back hexagon was typical of Akechi Denki’s style, credits Denki with a two-strap mountain shape, and says Akechi Kanna popularized an X-shape near the neck. Rope365 describes a mountain-shaped third-rope design inspired by Kazami Ranki, who it says drew on Akechi Denki’s original pattern, and a variation by Mynx influenced by Naka Akira, who it says was inspired by Nureki Chimuo. ESINEM observes that Arisue Go appears to use a looser TK, allowing the wraps to stand farther away from the body.

How it developed

The Seisenban Nihon Kokugo Daijiten, as shown by Kotobank, gives a record of the Kasuga shrine dated 1184 as its first example, and defines the word as securely tying both hands behind the back with rope from the neck down to the elbows and wrists. The Digital Daijisen defines it in similar terms, with the rope running from the neck to the upper arms and wrists and tied securely.

Steve Osada writes that the term is centuries old, citing its appearance in Fujita Seiko’s work on torinawajutsu (the arresting-rope art), and that in the hojōjutsu days different ties were applied according to class and crime. The history of those methods is in Hojōjutsu: rope and the law in Edo Japan.

Nawapedia lists the word in print from 1923, in a text by Yoshikazu Manabe, and in 1950 in Itō Seiu’s Torment Research. It also lists a Kitan Club article of April 1953 about kinbaku’s beauty in the gote takatekote, artworks from 1888 on and a how-to book by Nureki Chimuo from 1985.

Kinbaku Academy says the term takate kote is used mainly by people influenced by the Akechi Denki lineage and that Akechi Denki revived it, and describes Osada-ryū’s methods as based on Akechi-ryū and influenced by Akechi Kanna and Yagami Ren. Osada attributes the same association to the word. Rope Bite Pgh quotes Akechi Denki as saying that shibari begins and ends with the gote and Hajime Kinoko as saying that most of the knowledge shibari requires lies in the TK. Kinbaku Academy also says different versions have been developed over time.

Difficulty and risk

Rope365 says that incidents are uncommon outside suspension but that the tie is prone to injury under heavy tension. Rope365 identifies sensitive areas near the bottom of the deltoid, says a second rope adds risks at the armpit and elbow, and warns that very high shoulder tension with a third rope can affect the supraclavicular and axillary nerves. For the placement of the wraps, ESINEM and Innovative Fiber Arts disagree, as described above. Kinbaku World lists the risk as high.