Wednesday and Thursday, Murasaki san and Iroha san are available for private lessons or sessions.
This is a chance to work with one of the top Mistresses in Tokyo and one of the top bondage models in Japan.
Contact us at laropedojo@gmail.com for scheduling information.
Next month, we will be premiering the video “Secrets of Shibari” (often called the “Green Bunny” video) as part of our Akechi Denki event in March.
This video has been impossible to find for several decades.
What will make this event special, however, is that we now also have the video translated into English by one of the top translators of kinbaku material (Alice Liddell, who also knew Akechi personally and has been doing translation and interpretation of kinbaku materials for decades).
We will be showing the translated and subtitled version for the first time ever during Alice’s visit in March.
Not to be missed!
We are very happy to have Murasaki san, Iroha san, and Alice san visiting next month from Tokyo. We are offering a wide range of opportunities to meet and learn from these amazing women.
Our events start with a Night Celebrating the Life and Work of Akechi Denki with Alice Liddell. Alice not only knew Akechi Denki, but also has done extensive research on the history of kinbaku in Japan and has a deep understanding of his place in the history of Japanese rope. She will be bringing extremely rare footage (some never seen before) of Akechi Denki’s performance.
We will also be making a very special video available for purchase at the event.
Thursday, our week continues with our first Murasaki Seminar: Advanced Yukimura Concepts. This is an intimate evening with Murasaki and Iroha, discussing many of the finer and more sophisticated elements of Yukimura’s teaching. This seminar is a rare opportunity to gain a deeper and rich understanding of Yukimura’s teaching from someone who had the opportunity to study with him closely as one of the first students of Yukimura Ryuu.
Friday, we are offering our second Murasaki Seminar: Tying Men. This demo and discussion will focus on techniques for tying the male body. As a long time professional mistress in Tokyo, Murasaki san has developed techniques that allow her to create amazing rope bondage scene that focus on the male body and which overcome difficulties women often have tying larger partners.
Saturday and Sunday, LA Rope and Devil Mask Society will be hosting a unique two day Yukimura Intensive with Murasaki and Iroha. In addition to 9 hours of hands on instruction, Sunday will also feature an afternoon photo session and workshop, focused on using Yukimura style ties to create beautiful images. Participants will be able to tie and shoot their partners with the assistance of Murasaki san and Iroha san giving guidance on ties and poses.
During the week, Murasaki will also be available for private lessons as well as professional sessions. Please contact us at laropedojo@gmail.com to schedule lessons or a session.
Murasaki san (春晏, Haru An) will be visiting Los Angeles March 14-19 and will be offering classes and workshops, focusing on Yukimura Ryuu shibari as well as special topics in dealing with tying men and the male body.
We are honored to have her here to spend time at LA Rope and she will be available for private lessons and sessions during the week as well. Beyond being of of Yukimura’s students for more than a decade, she also holds a position as one of the top dominants at Tokyo’s La Siora, a top Mistress house.
We are looking forward to all that she has to share with about Yukimura’s technique, legacy and her memories of Yukimura sensei.
Scheduled workshops include:
We will be posting more details and sign up information soon!
Now available at Japanese Bound.
This video is the last work produced by Yukimura sensei and features the basic components of Yukimura ryuu. This is also the first how to video from Yukimura to feature English interpretation by someone who has worked closely with Yukimura for years as a translator and interpreter for countless lessons. In this 90 minute video, you will learn multiple versions of Yukimura’s hands in front tie, his gote (hands behind the back tie), several “fast rope” and “rope play” tied and three floor based partial suspensions (the “beast” tie, one leg partial suspension, and the open leg tie).
These elements form the foundation of Yukimura’s unique style and provide the basics for a lifetime of study, learning, and play.
LA Rope was very pleased to be on set with Jhene Aiko and photographer Steven Taylor for the shoot of her music video “Maniac.” It was a fun (but long) day working with her team to get just the right look for the shoot. In an interview for Billboard magazine, Jhene explained her inspiration:
The concept is this art form of Japanese bondage called shibari. It’s something I saw years ago that really just caught my eye because I felt like it just looked like art. This is something that the Japanese do and it’s decorative tying. They do it for sensual purposes too but it’s a true art form. I have this a kinky spirit sometimes. [Laughs] If something looks a little painful, then I’m like, ‘Yeah, I wanna try that.’
She was tied for most of the day without any complaints (though is was a challenge keeping everything together over an 8 hour shoot!).
It is exciting seeing shibari and kinbaku not only embraced by those in the artistic community, but also those with an interest in making it a part of human sexual expression.
Check out the full interview with Jhene here.
Here is a preview of the video:
July 30th, TheRumpus.com is holding their film festival Lo-Fi, featuring a number of interesting films and panel discussions. Of particular note is a new film by Michelle Ehlen, S&M Sally, described as “a provocative queer feature film comedy about sex, love, and the most important question of all—who’s on top?”
Head over to therumpus.com to seen the trailer.
Also featured is Steven Elliot’s, After Adderall.
In 2010 James Franco optioned the rights to Stephen Elliott’s memoir, The Adderall Diaries. In 2015 The Adderall Diaries starring James Franco and Ed Harris premiered at the TriBeca Film Festival. After Adderall is a surreal re-imagining about what happens when James Franco makes a movie about your life.
More information and tickets are available: Here
We are very pleased to announce that through an arrangement with the distributors in Japan, we will be able offer Yukimura’s latest, and sadly final, video to the US market. We will be shipping the same day that the video will be released in Japan, July 20th.
We are currently accepting pre-orders for the video:
This is an amazing video not only because of the content, but also because it is the first video of Yukimura’s to feature English translation and interpretation.
This month holds a special memory for me. In June of 2010, I met Yukimura sensei for the first time. As luck would have it, I had just found a copy of his book Transbody Bondage and happened to be carrying it as I entered his Ebisu apartment for the first time. I asked, hesitantly. if he would mind signing it for me.
Much to my surprise (not knowing he was also a master calligrapher), he pulled out his brush and ink and proceeded to sign the book in shodo, complete with his hanko (seal). He took the time to make that meeting special, which was a feeling that would characterize all of our meetings from that point forward.
Over the next six years, I was honored to study with him on a number of visits to Japan as well as for an extended period in 2012 when LA Rope was able to host him in Los Angeles. We did a series of workshops as well as private lessons, but even then, Yukimura was showing the first signs of the illness that would later lead to him passing in March of this year.
The classes and lessons were spectacular, but what I remember most was the conversations. What drew me to Yukimura’s style of play was much more than the rope. It was his philosophy about why we do rope and how it is an act of communication between partners. For Yukimura, the point of rope was always to build an emotional connection. I suppose I shouldn’t find it surprising that he did the same with his students.
While I can’t speak for others, I know the things I will miss the most will be his warmth, generosity of spirit, sense of humor and the joy with which he would shout out “hazukashii!” when you got the connection with your model just right.
More than that, Yukimura sensei was an inspiration. It was after his visit to LA that I became determined to create a space, a dojo, for the study of rope in LA. The first location, a small space in Santa Monica, served as the initial attempt. LA Rope quickly outgrew the space and scheduling conflicts with others in the building made it clear that we would need to find a place where we could do rope 24/7.
In 2013, I was given the name Haru Yutaka by sensei and officially licensed as an instructor in Yukimura Ryuu. It was a complete shock, but it was also what led me to dedicate myself almost exclusively to studying his style of rope. During my last visit we spoke extensively about the future of LA Rope and how to best teach what mattered most to him about rope, communication, and play.
The move to Koreatown in February of 2015 was the fulfillment of both a dream and a promise and during my last visit to Japan Yukimura sensei gave his blessing to make the LA Rope dojo space a Yukimura Ryuu dojo both for the teaching of Yukimura Ryuu as well as for what he called Nawa Asobi or Rope Play under my direction.
The six years I was able to know him, learn from him and spend time with him were undoubtedly the most important for my training as a bakushi and as a teacher.
This coming month we have some very exciting events coming up!
On July 7th, LA Rope will be back at Threshold with our brand new class “Showa Me Something New!” which will explore three ties from the Showa era in Japan (pre-1989), which will give a whole new perspective on how and why we tie. The class will have a short lecture on the history of Showa era rope, followed by a hands on portion teaching three gote (hands behind the back ties) you may not have seen before! Great for newbies and experienced people alike.
July 19th we will be holding our monthly “Rope Play” class (date changed from July 12th). After last month’s turn out, we will be looking into a way to keep the numbers appropriate to the space. But either way, it promises to be a fun evening!
July 21st marks the return of movie night! Come join us for a classic movie and discussion!
Our July intensives will be on the 31st this month. There are only a few spots left, so if you are interested, I suggest signing up soon! These usually sell out a couple of weeks in advance.
Hope to see everyone at the dojo soon!
