Hojojutsu: The Warrior's Art of the Rope

I love this book! It is so well written, fantastically illustrated. What I really appreciate is the way that modern impacts and historical legacies are covered! I knew Hojojutsu was a noble skill the Samurai learned, by way of kinkier pursuits. Alas, I am a history nerd so I loved how this work addressed the way the art is fetishized instead of treating it like an elephant in the room. Hojojutsu: The Warrior's Art of the Rope has very easy to follow instructions and one of the best primers on safety I have ever read.Mostly though... the book is fun!

I got interested in tying knots and read about the Hong Kong police carrying a quick rope to help in arrest. Following that thread, I found out about the samurai using ropes for arrest and transport. This book gives a wonderful overview of the history and even a translation of on of the scrolls in the back of the book. It mentions the S&M bondage craze in passing, but that is not the focus and I am glad of it. I thing Ashley's Book of Knots is the bible for knotters, but this was a great book for this niche.

Great book, well written and researched. One of the best resources on the topic available, well worth the read!

I bought this because I was interested in learning the history of Shibari. There was a lot of grammatical errors but had interesting information that I didn’t know about. Good read!

Cracking book. Really pleased with it.