Gote Shibari

Proper position for the arms is to have the wrists facing each other. The arms will tend to follow gravity over time and will pressing on the rope that are holding them up. You don't want that pressure on the sensitive inside of the wrists where all of those nerves and blood vessels could be impacted.

When we lock off the top band with our X friction (in the next Phase), we will be pulling up on the center line somewhat. This means that if we tie the wrist at their highest comfortable point, when we tighten the X-friction, we will be putting undue strain on our partner. So I usually have my partners put their wrists a little below that point, perhaps 2 inches (~5cm). You will take up that slack shortly (Step 14)

Tie their wrists with a Single-Column tie that can be untied from the wrist end. While I show three wraps in the picture, only use 2 (in practice, it is very hard to get 3 wraps evenly tensioned). It should be quite loose -- 1-2" (2.5-5cm) of slack. This will allow your partner to move their wrists enough to switch hand positions when one gets tired. ***You *also* want to take this moment to have them squeeze your first two fingers on one of your hands so that you can gauge their strength in this position before you begin the rest of the tie. You then know the baseline and can test that they have the same squeezing power as you continue the tie and your scene. If the squeezing power changes, they could have a pinched nerve or blood vessel and they need to be released. If that happens, untie the wrists immediately from the wrist end; letting your partner relax their arms helps alleviate tension through the whole tie immediately.

Make sure your X Friction is very solid and tight, then reach under your partner's arm from the front

Reach under the front of the top strap from above and hook the tail

Pull the tail through. Then grab the strands of the strap and hold them flat and stable, while you...

...reverse the tension. The tail should cinch the strap a little closer to the body, but you don't want the strap so tight the strands are sinking deeply into the skin of the chest.. Also, you want this cinch to be in the middle between the arm and the chest to minimize the possibility of pinching.

Reach under the arm from behind and grab the tail and pull it through to the back

Run the tail behind the center line (you almost always want long-running cords to be as close to the skin as you can get them)...

...and under the other arm.

Repeat the cinching procedure on this side. Run the tail up above the strap...

Then, while holding the strap flat, reverse the tension and...

...bring it back to the back...

Again, run it under the center line

Some people just wrap the tail around the center line (or "stem") at this point. Others lock off this phase with another X Friction.

Let's do the X Friction version :)

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OK, we have now locked of the Kannnuki with an X Friction.

We can now proceed with the next phase.

If you choose to do the Kannuki at this stage, this is what things will look like from the front at this point. That said...

...I have now removed all that we added in this phase, because I want to show you the alternative approach. So, this is how things look in the front as we move on to Phase 4

Now we begin to create the second strap. You want this one almost exactly in the middle of the arm, right over the middle of the triceps, avoiding that valley between the triceps and deltoid

So...across the triceps

And across the middle of the chest. You want the rope to cross at least some part of the sternum, you don't want it running along the lower ribs; the ribs of the mid chest are much stronger.

Run the rope over the middle of the arm, mid triceps, on the other arm

Again, taking care to avoid this danger zone

Bring the tail under the center line

...and continue on to make a second wrap tightly parallel to the first

When you run out of rope, just extend it

Try to place the knot as close to the end of the previous rope as you can. But also pay attention to were the knot lands. If it is on a bony part of the body or somewhere were it is not attractive, it is fine to move it. It just so happens in this case that it ends up in a great spot that shouldn't bother anything :)

Continue wrapping...

...and again bring your tail under the center line so that all strand of this strap are together

You can lock off this band with an X Friction, like we did for the top band, but many people use a Square Friction for this one instead.. Square Frictions are great for very strongly connecting two straps that cross each other as these are doing, and it can be argued that they provide a slightly tighter grip than the X Friction. We will choose the Square Friction:

Reverse tension around the center line

Reach under the inline cords from above and grab the tail

Pull the tail through, then give it a firm tug to ensure that it is tightly compressing the cords in the crossing line

Lay the tail over top of the center line, above

Again, pull firmly. The lines in the lower chest strap should deform as they are crushed together. This is what you want. That deformation shows you have it tight enough to have a good, strong grip

Then, reach under the in-line from below and grab the tail

Pull the tail through and give it a firm pull to make sure it is tightly griping the center line

You should see the cords from both bundles of rope being compressed tightly, like this

Run the tail over the center line again…

Then reach under the center line…

...and pull the tail through. This strap is now complete. On to Phase 5!

We are going to be running the rope to the front to create the Kannuki, but we have two options on how to do so...

(Option 1) If you already added Kannuki to the top strap (optional Phase 3) and now wish to take the classic approach for the lower strap as well, then run the line between the two straps by reaching through here to grab the tail...

...pull through

Just as you did for the top strap, hold the lines of the strap flat and even, then reverse the tension and lay the tail across the strands...

...and pull the tail to the back

Then continue as you did in Phase 3.

(Option 2) If you want to use the alternate option, run the rope underneath the lower strap (instead of between them)

Pull the tail to the front

Lay the tail over top of the lower strap lines, then reach under the upper strap lines from above and grab the tail

Pull through

Holding the lines of the strap flat, reverse tension on the tail

Put a little tension on it, but not too much. The goal is to prevent the upper strap from being able to slid up over the shoulders, you do not want to pull so hard that you start cinching the two straps together

We now want to run the tail behind the back to the other arm. There are two ways to do this. (1) Reach under the arm from behind and grab the tail, pull it through and then fish it behind the center line to the other arm, or...

...or, (2) you can grip the tail a little further down and then run the line underneath the arms to the opposite arm in one movement, by running it between the wrists and the small of the back! (fewer tail pulls, faster)

If you take this second approach, make sure the line of the tail makes it fully behind and past the wrists, up to the middle of the back so that it runs straight from one arm to the other as you can see here (the lowest horizontal line)

Once on the other side, do your multi-strap Kannuki just as you did before

Over the lower strap, under the upper strap

Pull through

Hold upper strap flat, reverse tension on the tail

Over the lower strap again...

...and back to the back

Pull through

And run the tail under the center line so that all line of this Kannuki are on the same side of the center line

Like this. Now, if you are planning to do a 2TK, continue with this section....

To lock off the Kannuki for a 2TK, you can use and X Friction or Square Friction. Here I use Square Friction just as we did for the lower chest strap ...

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I have quite a bit of rope left over, so I would typically use that up by choosing one of the 3rd rope variants (see below for ideas). But for purposes of showing how to finish the 2TK, I am going to pretend that I only have a few inches left (not enough to go around the waist).

All you do if you only have a little rope left is bring that rope up to one of the straps

Like this

Then tie it off somewhere up here with a series of half hitches, or by wrapping the rope around the strap lines and then tying it off

Once you are done tying it off, be sure to run your fingers under the both straps, one at a time, on both arms. This give you one last opportunity to confirm that the strands are all laying flat and have even tension, and to confirm they have not migrated into the danger zone between the deltoid and triceps

Here is the complete 2TK!

After locking off the lower-wrap kannuki, bring the tail up between the ropes and the body

Bring it across the shoulder (we have been starting all new elements to the left)

You have several options on how to make the front look. Option 1 is like the Bikini Harness. Option 2 is like the Shinju.

(Option 1 - Bikini Harness Style) Lay the tail over top of both straps

Reach under the lower strap, placing your fingers on the *same side* of the tail as the shoulder the tail just came over

Reach under the upper strap, placing your fingers on the *same side* of the tail as the shoulder the tail just came over

Like this

Pull the tail through.

Run over the other shoulder. Skip to Step 15 to tie off.

(Option 2 - Shinju Style) Run the tail through itself below the top strap instead of above

Grab the tail

Pull it through and over the other shoulder. Alternatively...

...you can add and extra twist if you like...

Then run the tail over the other shoulder

Run the tail behind the upper strap and then tie the tail off to the center line or the strap on the opposite side. The next few steps show one way of doing so (many other ways are also just fine...)

I have a quite a bit of rope left, so I will go under the lower strap as well

Pull the tail through

Go across the center line

The lock it off with a half hitch or two

If you have a lot of rope left, you can use it up in a variety of ways

21 Here is the completed Y3TK from the front.

After locking off the friction that secures the Kannuki lines, reach through between the body and arm on the left side and grab the tail...

...pull the tail through

Run it across the chest to the opposite shoulder. If your partner has a different body type than is in this picture, this line may end up laying straight across the chest near the nipples.

Bring the tail to the opposite side again

Now we are going to do a series of Crossing Hitches. The trick to remembering which way to do them for a 3TK is to always put you fingers under the strap on the side of the tail that is closer the the center line, as I am doing here

Pull the tail through

Lay it over the incoming line

Reach under the strap again. Grab the tail

And pull it through to complete the Crossing Hitch. This BTW is just the regular "Crossing Hitch". We will do a Reverse Crossing Hitch on the other side...

Do a Crossing Hitch on the next strap. Remember that the first move is always on the side nearer the center line

Complete the Crossing Hitch then bring your tail down to the wrists

Put your fingers through the wrist cuffs pointing toward the other side

Grab the tail

Pull it through

You can add a little tension here now to give the wrist cuffs more support

Reverse the tension so the tail moves up toward the other side. We are now going to put Crossing Hitches in place going up this side. You can do the same technique as we did on the other side, but if you prefer symmetry and want the Crossing Hitches to be facing the same way, you can use the Reverse Crossing Hitch technique as I will do here. Start by reaching under the strap and grabbing the tail

You want the tension on the complete knot to be on the outside, so orient the tail side of the loop you are holding on to to be more toward the center line and the line with tension (coming from the wrists), to be on the outside

Pull just a little of that loop through

Your fingers are already in the loop, so now...

...grab the tail with those fingers

...then pull the tail through.

If you need to, adjust the position of this Crossing Hitch so it is the same distance away from the center line as was the other side

Do a second Reverse Crossing Hitch (or Crossing Hitch if you choose)

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Again, make sure it is positioned symmetrically

Bring the tail up to cross the other shoulder strap

...and lock it off with a Crossing Hitch before you proceed

From there, bring the rope over the shoulder...

...and cross it over the chest like you did the other. Some people like to put a Crossing Hitch at this crossing point as well, but I don't see that particularly often

Bring the tail down through the arms on the inside of the Kannuki

And bring it to the back

You can lock it off the center line or with two half hitches on one of the straps on the opposite side.

If you happen to have rope left over, one option for using it up is to wrap it around the soft belly and then tying that tail off to one of the straps on the back.

Here is the completed 3TK from the Front

... and the back

This variant begins in a slightly different place than the other 3TKs. Instead of locking off your Kannuki, to the center line, begin this immediately after bringing the tail through the arm after your last Kannuki.

...and lock it off with a Crossing Hitch directly to the back of the lower strap. To begin, run the tail up

Reach under the strap with your fingers on the side of the tail closer to the center line.

Now put your fingers under the strap on the opposite side of the knot

Grab the tail...

...and pull it through

Repeat this procedure to put a second Crossing Hitch on the next strap up

This one will be a little closer to the center line. We will be running the tail over the opposite shoulder, so it generally follows that path

Run the tail over the opposite shoulder

...then straight down, on the inside of the Kannuki. Then begin running the tail around your partner's back under the arms...

...across the lower back--between the wrist and the back--to the other side

...to the other side. Be sure to pull it tight so that it slips between your partner's wrists and back and comes up to run parallel right next to the lines of the lower Kannuki

You might need to help the line get up where it needs to be, no worries

Now run the tail up on the inside of the Kannuki up to the shoulder

Run the tail to the back, crossing the other shoulder strap. Place you fingers under the strap on the side closest to your partner's core. Grab the tail

Lay the tail over the incoming line

...and then under the crossing line to form another Crossing Hitch

Add another Crossing Hitch to lock down the upper strap

Lock the tail to the lower strap with another Crossing Hitch

Reach under between the arm and body from the front and grab the tail

Pull the tail through and begin running it across the chest

Reach under the opposite shoulder strap and grab the tail

Pull it through

Reverse the tension and run it to the other shoulder strap

Reach under the shoulder strap from the chest side. Grab the tail

Pull through and add some tension. This will pull the shoulder straps away from the shoulders a little, making them more comfortable and pulling them away from the nerves that run there.

Some riggers leave the ropes simply crossed here...

But many like to add a little twist here

Bring the tail to the back on the inside of the Kannuki

Bring the tail under the center line...

... so that all the lines from the Kannuki and the Mt Fuji are on the same side of the center line

And from here lock off with a Square Friction. Reverse tension...

...Under

...Over...Under

Pull tightly until the friction is very solid

Now tie it off. I have about 12" (30cm) of rope left, so I chose to run it over the center line and under the right-hand side of the Kannuki strap again, and then I wrapped one strand around and around the lower strap and then tucked the ends between the strands of the lower strap to lock it off....

Then I brought the other strand to the other side...

...and did the same thing over here

Competed Mt Fuji 3TK from the back

...and from the front.