Once again our nawashi friend Yukinaga Max Sensei from the Copenhaguen Shibari Dojo have delighted us with some videos over his way of doing shibari.  As he clearly says in his facebook post we reproduce down this post, his aim is not to teach people over Internet videos, as he feels (in the same way as we do) that shibari is much more than doing certain patterns and knowing where the rope goes.  There are lots of things related to shibari culture, connection, the way rope is used and how to transmit emotions with the rope other then the simple knots and twists he shows us here.

In his own words  “None of us will ever learn the true Kinbaku from videos, only patterns. It takes a humble, openminded and hardworking student, and a committed, encouraging and patient teacher, face to face for a long time, in real life to learn the heart and depth in Kinbaku.”

Over the last couple of months I have received emails from people who ask me why I uploaded these videos, in case others are sitting with the same question and don’t dare to ask me, I will tell you why:
(and this is my ansver of my personal opinion):
Why not ? It’s no secret, it’s only a pattern, a figure.
It can give people the opportunity to train their fingers to handle the rope and practice the patherns in their brain.
If I only teached my students’ patterns, I would consider myself as a bad Sensei , each tie has explanations and stories and can challenge people at different levels, but we all need to start somewhere ….. by basic. The secret lies in the one who makes the tie or the one who’s teaching it …… that’s nothing you can pass on in videos.

Example: Yukimura Sensei’s ties are not complicated to tie, but to make the tie with his heart, his words, explanations, understanding and philosophy behind, it takes a lifetime to achieve and understand ……. even after so many years I am only beginning to understand some of the depths of his philosophy … but if I had never met Yukimura Sensei and spent so much time with him, then I would still just tie patherns. The videos are mainly to help private students and students at the dojoes in Denmark, Oslo and Barcelona to keep the techniques fresh and equal to all dojos …. But have to admit it makes me happy to see that others find them useful too. just remember that there are many key points in all ties and they are best obtained if you are taught face to face.

And still i think: None of us will ever learn the true Kinbaku from videos, only patterns.
It takes a humble, openminded and hardworking student, and a committed,
encouraging and patient teacher, face to face for a long time, in real life to learn the heart and depth in Kinbaku.

Yukinaga Max. 雪長マックス