The Secret Aibunawa - with Roxu & Ena

Doors open 10:30am

A deep dive into the archives and the never-taught ties of Yukimura Haruki 

Aibunawa asks little of the rope itself, and everything of the people in it. That’s what we love about it. The ties and structures are simple. Nothing else is.

What we know as Aibunawa is basically a handcuff, a gote, and a few frictions, arranged into a handful of katas. Somewhere along the way that became the whole story.

The making of a style

Yukimura Haruki came to teaching late. Asked to pass on what he knew, he did what any good teacher does, he distilled. His selected essentials were packaged into a digestible repertoire, and those ties became what the world now calls Aibunawa.

That packaging works and has produced a generation of riggers who understand something about intimacy that no amount of technical rope will teach you, and we have no interest in disrespecting it. But it was a curriculum, not a confession. It is what he chose to hand over, not the whole of what he did.

A lot more of what he did can be found in the archives. We’ve been digging.

What the archive shows

Yukimura spent decades in front of a camera as a prolific producer and performer in Japan's adult film industry. In his films we see him creating, improvising, adapting, and solving problems in the moment, with no curriculum and no students watching.

The man in that footage is not a refined bakushi composing elegant patterns. His rope is direct, rough, experimental and not always pretty (at least not by today’s standards). And it’s certainly not the gentle, reverent thing that comes to mind when aibunawa is translated as caressing rope. He caressed, but not politely. Instead he used every wrap as an excuse to touch, to grope, and to satiate desires. He was tying for pleasure, his own and that of his models. 

What we will teach

Ties extracted from the archives

Through in depth research (aka countless hours of watching Yukimura’s catalog of adult films retrieved through years of scavenging) we’ve extracted a handful of patterns, harnesses and ties that recur throughout the archive. Interpreted and adapted by us, we're presenting these, not only as real additions to your vocabulary that can be used to vary your existing Aibunawa practice, but as an invitation to break the mold and think more laterally. 

Tapping into the spirit

We’ll work on rope and body handling that carries the spirit of the source: the dirty old man school of touch. (Note that whenever we encourage our students to tap into their inner dirty old man, this is a genderless persona open to individual interpretation.) We will explore how to make a tie, and even every move, an excuse. How to take the long route and how to let appetite, rather than efficiency, choose your next move.

Improvisation

Taking all the tools we have gathered throughout the weekend we will improvise, working on tying to the movement and reactions of the person in front of you rather than to a script. Much like how Yukimura tied in his various films, we’ll be mixing structures, breaking them, adding our own, building something in the moment that exists only once. This is the part most people have never been given permission to do, and it is the part that changes how you tie afterwards.

Why we created this workshop

Because what is packaged and passed on as a style is almost always the surface of it, and knowing that is liberating rather than disillusioning.

The point is not a longer list. Watching Yukimura tie freely shows us what his formal teaching could only gesture at: the style was never contained by katas. Instead the patterns served the scene and they changed when the body in front of him changed, or when the moment asked for something else. What stayed constant was the intention. 

In fewer words, more patterns can be useful, but freedom from patterns is transformative. The katas are not the thing. The energy and intention are.

You’ll leave with new tools in your toolbox, but more importantly, with the nerve to interpret, adapt, and make Aibunawa your own.

For rope bottoms

The archive is as much a record of his models as it is of him. We look closely at how a body enters these shapes instead of being arranged into them, how a transition asks you to travel with the rope, and what each position wants from your breath, your weight, your face. Most of what makes these ties work lives on your side of the rope.

Part of a Yukimura weekend

On [date], Roxu presents Yukimura Haruki: A Tribute, and we perform [performance title], a piece shaped by the same themes. Talk, performance and workshop are one continuous weekend. Come for one, come for all of it.

This is our own study of Yukimura's work, drawn from the archive, the testimony of his students, and years of practising his style. It is not certified Yukimura-ryū instruction.

Level & requirements

Technically, this weekend is suitable for any level from advanced beginner/lower intermediate and up. That being said, an understanding of essential, practical building blocks in shibari is needed in order to communicate through the ropes. 

Riggers should be familiar with the single and double column ties, basic frictions and safe uplines for partials, as well as decent rope and body handling. 

Rope bottoms should be familiar with being tied, possess good body awareness and have the ability to communicate clearly with their riggers. 

Emotionally, this workshop asks a lot of you. You should be comfortable and willing to be seen in your desire and be able to hold space for your partner. 

We will structure the weekend in a way that flows between the practical and technical (hard skills) and the emotional and sensual (soft skills), ensuring that basic prerequisites are covered for each exercise.

Who is it for

This workshop is perfect for couples, duos and (play) partners who desire to deepen their rope practice, to play, explore, feel, and surrender to desire and yearning through rope. 

Beyond that, we aim to create and hold an inclusive, safer space where all sexes, genders, orientations, ages, and bodies are welcome.

Consider this weekend an invitation to explore connection and provocation through rope. This is not just about doing shibari; it’s about inhabiting it: being present in every touch, every look, and in every silence that lingers just a second longer than expected.

Equipment

At least five jute or hemp ropes, 7–8 metres long, 6mm or (preferably) thinner.

Dress code

Dress to undress. Partial nudity and exposure are welcome, but not expected or required. Keep in mind that layers—and clothes that unbutton or unwrap—may make undressing even more fun ;)

About the educators:

Roxu 

A passionate practitioner and learner since he discovered Shibari in 2016, Roxu has traveled near and far in pursuit of new knowledge and inspiration. Eventually disheartened by the lack of offers in and around his home city of Murcia, southern Spain, he went onto co-founding his own rope studio, Espacio Takibi, where he organizes jams, workshops, and study groups.

Now relocated to Berlin, Roxu blends influences from Aibunawa and Semenawa into a personal style that is as seductive as it is precise. Highly attuned and full of curiosity in his approach, the way he ties is a dance between technical control and erotic intensity, designed to provoke deep emotional and physical responses.

Instagram: @roxu.k / @espaciotakibi
Telegram: t.me/roxuropes

Ena Dahl 

Raised in Oslo and based in Berlin, Ena is a sensualist and multidisciplinary creatrix; a conscious kink educator, author, bodyworker and rope (s)witch. She’s been active in the kink and BDSM scenes since 2017, and with Shibari since 2020, through which she reconnected with her sexuality, causing her to change her career from the commercial to the sensual arts.

With a professional background in communication design, Ena is a creative storyteller regardless of her medium, weaving narrative into her work with kink and sexuality to create content—writing, experiences, workshops and sessions—that are as immersive as they are educational. Motivated by the transformational potential of authentic self expression and the unlimited power found in connecting to our innate sexual energy, she is known for her deeply intimate and intuitive approach, emphasizing connection, observation and communication in ropes.

Website: www.enadahl.com 
Instagram: @enanna_ascends / @ena.dahl
Telegram: t.me/enadahl

Ena and Roxu met at The European Rigger & Model Exchange (Eurix) in Berlin in the spring of 2024 where they instantly connected over a shared passion for long, drawn out teasing in (and out of) ropes and have since been traveling across Europe to tie, give workshops and perform together. Their joint approach, whether in the direction of Semenawa, Aibunawa or something else entirely, is undogmatic and exploratory; each tie together is a conversation based on a desire to dig deeper and uncover more.