Hishi Karada

This is the second and incredibly long overdue post I’ve written on rope bondage or Shibari. I’ve written a post on single column ties on this blog, as well as a longer two part post on an introduction to shibari and some common ties for Downthebunnyrabbithole.com, which you can read by clicking the links below, and why wouldn’t you!.

https://www.downthebunnyrabbithole.com/bondage/an-introduction-to-japanese-rope-bondage/

https://www.downthebunnyrabbithole.com/bondage/some-common-ties-used-in-shibari-rope-bondage/

This post is about the Shibari tie called the Hishi Karada. In Japanese the term karada means “body”. So a Karada is a tie specifically for the body, though more often it refers to binding the body and pelvis. The most common Karada is the Hishi (or Diamond ) Karada, which as the name suggests features a diamond pattern down the front of the body. The Hishi Karada is sometimes referred to as a rope dress. Although its a relatively simple design, it is attractive and is a great base and anchor for attaching additional ties. It’s diamond design and tight lacing provide a comfortable experience while wearing it and it can be worn for extended periods of time, without to much discomfort, it’s even suitable for wearing under clothes if you fancy taking rope out of the bedroom environment.

A typical Hishi Karada usually takes around 49ft of rope (15m) to tie. typically it starts with a rope halter and a series of overhand knots down the front of the body and between the legs, the final knot resting at the base of the penis or on top of the clitoris. The rope then either splits and depending on the sex of the person being tied either passes either side of the penis and scrotum or vulva or can pass directly over the vulva and labia before threading back up through the back of the halter allowing the rope to double back on itself and split the rope on the front of the body creating the diamond pattern.

The Hishi Karada is not usually used to bind or restrict the body or the arms directly, its used more to apply direct pressure to the areas of the body the rope pasees over, but you can use other ties to attach the arms to the Karada, and it can be used as a securing point for other shibari techniques, including suspension.

A variant of the Hishi Karada is the Half Hitch Karada which replaces the overhand knots with half hitches, but to all intense and purposes is no different in effect to the Hishi Karada.