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Shibari is an ancient form of artistic Japanese rope bondage. “It’s a modern practice that involves tying people with rope,” says Marika Leila, co-founder of Shibari Study, an online Shibari education platform. “It’s evolved into many different branches and practices and has become something that people can use for artistic expression and self-care.”

Shibari draws on Hojojutsu, a martial art used by the Samurai in Japan’s Edo period (from 1603 to 1868) to restrain, transport, and often torture prisoners with rope or cords, according to Shibari.ph, an online hub for Japanese rope bondage enthusiasts and practitioners. Seeing as prisoners were intricately tied according to their crime, Hojojutsu served a functional purpose as well as an aesthetic and symbolic purpose. Hojojutsu later disappeared from society. Its rope techniques, however, found themselves in Japan’s underground BDSM scene. This often painful, sensual, and sexual art of tying became known as “shibari” or “kinbaku.”

Shibari began to spread and become more popular when it made its way to Europe and the Americaa in the early 1900s, near WWII, according to Shibari Academy, a Shibari training program. The changing interpretation of shibari continues to this day — so much so that shibari lessons, events, and workshops are far more accessible now than a few decades ago.

The origins of shibari may not be fully understood by those who aren’t of Japanese heritage, but the complexity, intricacy, functionality, and aesthetics of this style of rope bondage have been recognized and appreciated by rope artists, educators, and enthusiasts all over the world.