Learn Shibari at Ropejam
The Green
Tiger Path
Tiger Nawa Ryū
Embodied Expression
01 · The Symbol
Why the Green Tiger?
I created Tiger Nawa Ryū as a system of teaching and learning that offers students a way of looking at rope with radical freedom of presence, thought and craft.
The tiger carries strength, courage, instinct and protective power. Green represents growth, renewal and a practice that remains alive.
The Green Tiger moves with instinct and constant awareness. It is rooted in knowledge and responsive to every body, every encounter and every changing moment. It honours the paths that came before while opening new paths for creativity, discovery and innovation.
Learn the Way of the Rope.
02 · The Method
Learn the grammar.
Find your voice.
I have taught different disciplines since 1998, but the heart of my teaching has always remained the same: to encourage each person to question, explore and awaken their own creative self.
In Shibari, presence and connection are what make a rope scene alive. Technique must be learned deeply and eventually forgotten. Embodied knowledge supports safety and allows us to listen, respond and flow with the person in front of us.
Rope is like language. We need grammar to speak clearly and articulate what we want to communicate.
It is also like music. A pianist learns scales, harmony and composition until the fingers no longer search for every note. Only then can the musician listen, interpret and improvise.
We learn rope handling, knots, friction, tension and structure. We study how forces move through rope and body, then explore rhythm, contrast, movement, stillness, tension and release.
Eventually, knowledge becomes embodied and we are free to be fully present.
03 · The Lineage
Tradition as a Living Source
To understand where we may go, I believe we should understand where our practice comes from.
Throughout the pathway, we look at the history, traditions and continuing development of Shibari and Kinbaku. We explore the people, practices and ideas that shaped its many expressions and the roots from which contemporary practice continues to grow.
Tradition is a source of knowledge, discipline and inspiration. By studying different approaches to structure, aesthetics, intimacy, suffering, movement and connection, we encounter different ways of thinking through rope.
We question, reinterpret and transform what we have received. We enter into conversation with tradition and, from that understanding, find the confidence to innovate and take our own path.
04 · The Encounter
Rope Is an Active Dialogue
Self-tying
In self-tying, one person becomes both the maker and receiver of the rope, listening and responding to their own body as the experience unfolds.
A duet
In a duet, the Bakushi, the person tying, and the Ukete, the person receiving rope, create the experience through attention and response. Breath, movement, resistance, surrender and emotion continuously shape its direction.
An ensemble
In an ensemble, several people may tie, receive, support or contribute. Each presence expands the conversation and changes its rhythm, possibilities and meaning.
In every form, those involved remain present, informed and active. I do not want students to reproduce my rope. Each lesson presents different ways of reaching the same tie or intention, so students can understand the principles, adapt them to different bodies and discover their own voice.
Tiger Nawa Ryū offers a path, but it does not prescribe a destination.
Rope is a dance of attention, explored alone, as a duet or as an ensemble.
CHOOSE YOUR JOURNEY
Begin with Foundations.
Two courses establish the hands, structures and shared awareness that support everything that follows. Start from the beginning or enter at the point that matches your experience.
BEGINNER · NO EXPERIENCE REQUIRED
Rope Foundations 1
Meet rope through columns, frictions, tension, movement, consent and communication. Build reliable hands and begin creating simple, connected ties.
DEVELOPING FOUNDATIONS
Rope Foundations 2
Strengthen fluency through structural thinking, adaptable harnesses and a more responsive relationship between rope, body and intention.
THE GREEN PATH · TIGER NAWA RYŪ
Seven courses. One living system.
Move from grounded rope towards suspension and personal expression. Take one day at a time, complete a weekend, or follow the full journey across the year.
01
INITIATION
TIGER NAWA RYŪ · COURSE 01
The Art of the Rope
Explore the nuts and bolts of Shibari.
Discover how rope works through rope handling, knots, frictions, tension, direction, structure and improvisation.
Learn five approaches to the Single Column Tie, the Double Column Tie, Futomomo, Gunslinger and two-rope Takatekote while exploring history, anatomy, safer practice, consent and communication.
- Five approaches to the Single Column Tie and the Double Column Tie
- Knots, frictions, tension, direction and structure
- First complete forms, anatomy, consent and communication
02
PRESENCE
TIGER NAWA RYŪ · COURSE 02
Tiger Aibu Nawa
Learn how rope feels.
Explore the loving and caressing language of Aibu Nawa through breath, Ki, touch, pacing and deep listening.
Develop the Nawajiri as a tool for expression, guide the body without force and introduce partial suspension while preserving connection, pleasure and trust.
- Breath, Ki, touch and emotional pacing
- Nawajiri, body guidance and partial suspension
- Listening, pleasure and trust
03
INTENSITY
TIGER NAWA RYŪ · COURSE 03
Tiger Seme Nawa
Learn how to deepen.
Explore Romantic Seme Nawa through authority, restriction, pain, predicament and vulnerability.
Learn to create meaningful physical and emotional challenge while remaining attentive to consent, communication and the changing responses of the Ukete.
- Authority, restriction and predicament
- Pain, vulnerability and emotional challenge
- Consent, communication and continuous attention
04
VOCABULARY
TIGER NAWA RYŪ · COURSE 04
Ties and Shapes Vocabulary
Learn more ties. Create more possibilities.
Expand your repertoire with Agura, Hog Tie, Mermaid variations, Hip Harness, Ishi TK, Armless Chest Harnesses and the Butterfly Harness.
Refine tension, adapt each structure to different bodies and begin combining ties into personal compositions.
- Floor forms, hip structures and chest harnesses
- Tension refinement and body adaptation
- Combining ties through intention and composition
05
GRAVITY
TIGER NAWA RYŪ · COURSE 05
Han Yuka Zuri
Transform the body between floor and air.
Enter partial suspension through six progressive studies in uplines, directional tension, weight transfer and changing orientation.
Learn how familiar ties transform as the body is lifted, redirected and partially surrendered to gravity.
- Six progressive partial-suspension studies
- Uplines, weight transfer and directional tension
- Body transformation and controlled returns
06
STILLNESS
TIGER NAWA RYŪ · COURSE 06
The Suspended Body I
Learn to hold the body in space.
Develop static full suspensions in face-up, lateral, face-down, inverted, diagonal and torsioned orientations.
Study suspension lines, load distribution and body monitoring while learning to lift, hold and return the body with clarity and control.
- Static full-suspension orientations
- Load distribution and suspension-line management
- Body monitoring and controlled returns
07
MOVEMENT
TIGER NAWA RYŪ · COURSE 07
The Suspended Body II
Learn to transform through space.
Progress from static forms into dynamic suspension through transitions, rotations, changes of height and controlled drops.
Learn how moving loads affect the rope and body while creating continuous suspended journeys with intention and connection.
- Transitions, rotations and changing height
- Controlled drops and moving loads
- Continuous suspended journeys
FLEXIBLE SCHEDULING
Your pace. Your dates.
The learning is progressive. The calendar is flexible.
- Choose one level. Complete both days in one weekend.
- Split the days. Attend Day 1 and Day 2 on different returning weekends.
- Build a multi-level plan. Combine several levels around the dates that work for you.
- Take the Full Journey. Complete all seven levels within twelve months.
CONTINUE EXPLORING
Shibari Elements.
Focused studies created to deepen particular subjects, revisit essential structures and expand the vocabulary you are building throughout your journey.
Futomomo
Construction, function and variation in one of Shibari’s most adaptable lower-body structures.
Mermaid Ties
Explore asymmetry, line and movement through a family of expressive side-body forms.
Hip Harness Lab
Study structure, function and aesthetics across floorwork, partial and full suspension.
All Bodies Chest Harness Lab
Build adaptable chest structures around different bodies, needs and intentions.
GO FURTHER
Deepen the work.
Masterclasses
Intensive technical, relational and artistic research for established practitioners.
Private Tuition
Teaching shaped around your body, questions and development.
COMING SOON
Ropejam Online
Preparation, revision and independent study wherever you are.
HOW WE TEACH
Structure before form.
We teach concepts—not patterns. Technique and physics create foundations. Listening, experimentation and experience transform them into a language of your own.
Learn the element. Understand its function. Listen to the body. Discover what changes. Create.
BEGIN YOUR JOURNEY
The rope moves through your hands. Then you begin to listen.
Start with Foundations or continue with your next chapter.