Tsujimura: The psychological background of the impulse to do Seme (1953)
In the year 1953, the magazine Kitan Club published a series of ”roundtable” discussions with some invited readers. On the KinbakuBooks-blog, we have published a translation of one of them earlier, see here: Rope Bottoming Roundtable
The text that follows is from Kitan Club issue 1, 1953.
Translation by Emi Kinako (http://www.spiderandaubergine.com )
Thank you for your fine work!
Commissioned and edited by Bergborg / KinbakuBooks
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The psychological background of the impulse to do Seme
First Round-Table Discussion with Readers
led by Tsujimura Takashi
Kitan Club, issue 1, 1953
Date: 27th year of Showa (1952), October 16th
Place: Arai Ryotei (Restaurant), Sonezaki-Shinchi
Participants (in no particular order):
(A) Mr. Shozo Kawai (38 years old, Kyoto)
(B) Mr. Yoshikazu Nishizawa (42 years old, Osaka)
(C) Mrs. Netsuke Ueda (25 years old, Hyogo)
(D) Mrs. Yoshiko Mitani (36 years old, Kyoto)
MC: Mr. Takashi Tsujimura
Looking at photos of seme
Mr. Takashi Tsujimura (MC): Thank you for gathering from such far places on your day off. We actually had a lot of applicants to partake in our discussion, so we had to take a look at people’s resumes, and proceeded to host this first round table discussion. Fortunately we have two women attending, so we will see if we can focus on the ecstasy exchanged during seme during this talk.
Mr. Yoshikazu Nishizawa (B): I couldn’t muster the courage to come to this event sober, so I had a drink before this.
MC: Due to the nature of our discussion, I was worried that not all the people I contacted would actually come… Especially the ladies.
Mrs. Yoshiko Mitani (D): I got very nervous before entering the restaurant. If Mr.Tsujimura wasn’t here, I was wondering who I should ask my way through.
B: It’s the first time we were meeting, and all we could use as a sign is the purple handkerchief that he was wearing.
MC: I have to say I felt the same. I’ve ordered some beer and sake, so please feel free to have a drink while we talk. I know what we’re about to talk about is quite private, so it might be a little hard to initiate the conversation. But we’ve all read some stories in KK Tsushin [NOTE 1], as well as the Penpal-section of Kitan Club – so please, relax, and bring the strange stories that you have to share. I’m impressed by your submissions, Mr. Kawai, how about you start?
Image: ”Mr. Kawai” (A)
Mr. Shozo Kawai (A): Uh, hello. Well it makes me more nervous, now that you’ve said that. Especially since there’s some ladies present.
MC: Well, well, don’t think about that, there are plenty of stories coming from the ladies as well.
(All laugh)
MC: How does it make you feel to look at photos of tied up women, or the illustrations by Mr. Kita? [NOTE 2]
A: Since no other magazine offers such content, it’s very appealing to us fans. How can I say it, it tightens us up…
MC: We’ve received some harsh critiques regarding our content.
A: Sometimes we see content that doesn’t reflect the reality of seme. In a way, Mr. Kita’s illustrations are a beautified version as well. Since it’s a tied up woman, that’s fine on it’s own, but we also want to see some sort of agony in her expression.
B: In that vein, I enjoy Mr. Seiu Itoh’s photos and illustrations, the agony expressed and the woman’s hair. Sometimes there’s old-fashioned stuff too, though.
A: His work was from the Taisho era to the beginning of Showa era, so that kind of traditional hair style was common. In this age of perms and cropped hair, it’s hard to see any one with that sort of hair style.
B: Well, I don’t have a strong interest in hair myself. But, I know that it can express more than any part of the body. There’s a recent publication called ”Reiko Gashu”, which shows seme in snow; I think you should put that in your magazine. [NOTE 3]
MC: We could. But if we put all images into the magazine, we won’t be able to sell the monographs… (Laughter) We need to save some of the good stuff…
B: The photos, they’re mostly nudes, but I don’t think the woman has to be naked in a seme scene. I much prefer a gag, or an obi [waist belt] that’s been messed around with…
A: Seme and exhibitionism are two different thing. For example, you might not be able to put this in your magazine, but I’d much rather see a woman in a long kimono undergarment and waist belt suspended upside down, than a naked woman in some simple rope.
MC: So you’d rather see some kinbaku, than just nude photos.
A: That’s true. If the rope is too soft, that destroys everything. I feel somewhat bad for the model, but what I really want to see is some rough rope digging into the model’s skin.
B: Itoh Seiu has his own wife model for his work, so he has been able to do some good stuff. The seme in snow can’t be done easily. Taking into consideration that many of the women modelling for your magazine are amateurs interested in seme, there are some great images. The October issue was great. [NOTE 4]
MC: You’ve finally complimented us. Truth be told, the bound nudes were curated by me. The issue with the models were that we couldn’t find good ones easily. Some of them would run off when we told them we were going to tie them, and the ones that were okay with being tied didn’t make for good models…
A: That all makes me jealous.
B: Yes, I’d love to see that process if I could.
MC: It’s not that easy. We shot various poses for 2–3 hours in a ryokan [a traditional Japanese hotel]… It was in the middle of summer, but we closed all the windows and doors, so we got dizzy after a while. I wrote about how difficult it was to shoot the images in the magazine, and that we only got a few good shots out of the many we took. Some are too obscene, and we couldn’t really edit the images; the genitals are way too ”out there”. The photo-section in our October issue, the eroticism you can see in the model’s hips, that’s something no-one has been able to visualize before.
A: That was very nice. Very artistic. The photograph of the naked back, at the beginning of the issue, was a masterpiece. [NOTE 5] The photos you sent me the other day – there were some amazing shots in there, too.
B: I was a little disappointed in the November issue, there was only one photo in the beginning. [NOTE 6]
A: About that photo, are you not allowed to publish uncensored photos?
MC: If we did that, we’d be in big trouble. But we keep the censoring at the minimum.
A: Then, I have a request. Rather than having multiple images I wish you had one big image, perhaps one that’s big enough to detach and put in a proper frame.
B: I saw a freakshow that used one of your photos for their advertising.
A: Where did you see that?
B: The other day, I was at Sennichimae, and saw it lined up with some other ”perverted material”. Next to the other photos, one could see that your images were quite good.
MC: I’ve heard about that. Hmm, I think somebody told me that magazine ”R” or ”S” had images of a woman suspended upside down, do you know anything about that?
A: Oh, that. That’s probably a fake. They probably turned the image upside down and edited so it looked like what it was supposed to be. You can prove it by looking at the rope on the model’s legs. They’re using such thin rope, but none of the model’s weight is going into her legs. Even if they used thicker rope, the rope should be pushing the meat out. If you’re using thin rope, you’d have to use some tenugui or cloth and wrap that around before using the rope. Otherwise the model wouldn’t be able to bear it. Don’t you think so, Mr.Tsujimura?
MC: That’s definitely true. Five or six days ago, I saw a model being photographed while she was suspended upside-down. She was in great pain, and they couldn’t get any shots of her to use for publication.
A: I’m impressed that one person suspended her.
MC: I used a table. I brought the table to the beam, and had the model stand on it. I tied the legs to the beam, then her arms, then I removed the table. The model was about 53 kg, so the beam started to squeak, and the rope began press hard on her ankles. By the way – Mrs. Ueda, in your letter, you said that your husband had suspended you upside down. How did you manage that… [NOTE 7]
Mrs. Netsuke Ueda (C): Uh, ummm……
B: So you get punished by your husband, Mrs. Ueda?
C: Um, yes……
A: Do you enjoy that, or do you not?
Image: Mrs. Ueda (C)
C: Well, well, please, don’t start pushing all those questions at me (laughs) It happened naturally, without me enticing it. Of course my husband is the one who punishes me, if it were someone else, I’d be in trouble… (laughs) I lied about coming here to my husband; I told him I was off to do some shopping. I’m sure he’d punish me even more if he found out that I were at such gathering. (laughter)
MC: According to your letter, he seems to take it pretty far… It said that you can’t go to sleep unless you get tied.
C: Oh, no, that was a lie. I didn’t think things would come to this, so I just blathered… (laughs)
MC: But it is not all lies, is it?
C: My husband has a lot of books that are like your magazine in his collection. I started to take a look at them, and then began to have some funny feelings… Half of it was true, and half of it is my fantasy.
A: I would love to read that letter some time.
C: Now I’m regretting that I wrote such filthy things.
MC: I’m sure you never thought you would be sitting here talking about it…. Well, lets have a listen to some true stories. Our introduction got long, but let’s get to the point. Mr. Kawai, how about you tell us how you got interested in the world of seme…
Torture play inspired by the Special Higher Police
A: I’m sure you’re all aware how awful the special higher police are overseas, so I’ll cut to the chase, but I worked for the railway system and was stationed in Harbin. I went to visit a friend of mine who was in the special higher police force, and he happened to be torturing a local woman, who was a suspect for a case.
MC: How old were you at that point?
A: That was right before the Great East Asia War, and Japan was in full force then, so I suppose it was around the 15th year of Showa [1940]. I married my current wife in Mukden, and got transferred to Harbin, I was probably around 26 years old…
MC: Was your marriage a result of a romance?
A: Well, something like that. We got married before my father knew, and before I got permission… But to stay on topic, the way the special higher police tortured their suspects… they usually tied their arms behind, threw them to the ground, stomped on them, suspended them, tied them onto a chair, burned their pubic hair with cigarettes, shoved broom sticks or walking sticks up their gentitals… Things like that. But what I observed was way worse than that. I had seen women being tortured twice or three times before that, but that was all about tying them up and beating them…
B: I’ve heard there were some innocent people as well, who got harmed during such proceedings by the police.
MC: How should I put it, it’s basically the strong beating up the weak.
A: Most of it was something like that. It was April back then, so still cold, but they had a 25 year old Chinese woman naked, her arms and legs tied onto the steam pipes running along the ceiling. I was told that they were doing something fun, and to come take a look. They pulled out an electric cord that was about 1 or 2 meters long, ripped it apart so that the circuits were out, plugged the cord in, and used it while it was connected to the electricity. The woman was screaming and crying, and the officer held onto her buttocks so she wouldn’t move. Any woman would’ve jumped in agony if that was done to them.
Image caption: ”Aaah”
B: I wonder how it feels.
D: What a horrible thing to do.
(D and C look at each other, theirs brows knotted)
MC: I’ve heard that’s used on men, too.
A: I heard they insert the cord into the urethra, but I’ve never seen it being done.
MC: Is that how you got into the scene, Mr. Kawai…?
A: It’d be strange if I were to say that I got inspired by that incident, but I did get introduced to the world of seme by watching the special higher police torture that woman. I was telling my wife what I had seen that day before bed time. I was trying to reenact the incident, and while I was doing so with my wife, I really got into it. Since we had no children, we began calling it ”torture play”, and on some drunken nights I’d tell her ”Hey, I’m gonna torture you tonight”… Thanks to that, I got saved from a lot of boredom.
MC: ”Torture play”, I see… Let’s save our conversation about the painless, charming torture of love for later. Mr. Nishizawa, how did you get into the scene…?
Tying the victim to a tree and dissecting them
B: Let’s see. By the time I was in elementary school, I was a little bully. I was tying people, and beating them up. So my history is quite deep. When I was a child, there were a lot of plays and stories about police officers carrying their sabers, fighting away burglars, catching thieves with rope, and tales of them losing their lives while in service. It wasn’t like the way it is today- not about officers shooting their guns; it was about hand-cuffs, rope, sabers. So cops and robbers became a very popular activity among us children. We would gather, and some of us had rope and sticks in our hands, while others played the burglars.
Image caption: ”I’m gonna dissect you!” ”No!”
A: I used to do that a lot, too…
MC: It brings back memories. When we were young we got thrilled from stuff like that. I used to play the burglar and got tied up. I forget when it was, one time I was tied onto a tree, and the other children ran away as soon as our teacher showed up. The teacher untied me and told me ”Stop being tied up all the time, you should be a cop some time and tie others.” [NOTE 8]
B: I see, so you’re listening to your teacher, now tying up models and practicing revenge. (laughs)
MC: It’s better to tie than to be tied. It doesn’t hurt, at least.
B: Back to the story, and you see, by the time were playing such games in the mountains, I caught the kid that was playing the robber, and tied him to a tree. Then I started saying things like ”I’m going to dissect you” and ”I’m going to torture you”; I pulled down his pants, pinched his genitals, picked at it, tied the end of it with some string, put some dirt on it… We were having crazy fun as kids, you know.
MC: I still see some young kids going at it like that in the back streets.
A: The grown-ups look at the tied up kid, and have a good laugh…
B: Now that I try to remember, I think that the kid playing the robber was feeling ecstatic by being tied and picked on. As if he was masturbating.
MC: That’s quite possible. I’ve heard that there are a few people that experience masturbating by the time they’re in elementary school.
B: And when I reflect about it, I think by experiencing such things as a child, we begin to lean towards sadism or masochism.
A: When we’re playing doctor, girls experience a masochistic sense of ecstasy by being touched, and boys find their sadistic side by being mean to the girls.
MC: An example I know is when a child did something bad, so as punishment, they were tied to a tree. And by being tied repeatedly, they get a sense of loneliness as well as ecstasy, and start misbehaving simply to be tied to a tree again. Obviously this child deserves the masochist’s stamp of approval.
B: I used to live in a dormitory during my grade school years. For three years, I was in a homosexual relationship with my roommate. One day, we were fooling around; wrestling each other or playing sumo, something like that – and I tied him up with a judo belt. After that, everything went as I wanted it to. That’s when I started to think about masochism. After we graduated, I’d tie him up at night, and play with his body. We mutually masturbated, but he also serviced me with his mouth. In this case, I’m obviously the sadist and he’s the masochist.
A: So, now you have your wife as a partner?
B: Since I live with my four children, I can’t tie my wife up. And my wife seems to feel more pain than pleasure from seme.
MC: So have you been practicing seme after your marriage?
B: I don’t really practice seme with my wife. Instead, I have a woman that I can tie freely. She lives quite close to here.
Image: Mr. Nishizawa (B)
MC: She’s your number two?
B: Not quite… Some magazine explained it well, a ”mistress on contract” or ”light mistress”; I don’t take care of her fully. I give her a few thousand yen every month, and I get to do as I please when I see her. I tie her, take out my sexual needs on her; I basically pay a salary. It’s fun for me, and cheaper to do so than hire a professional.
MC: I heard that there are a lot of widows that do that. Though the younger generation seems to be getting into it as well.
A: It’s almost like a part-time job for them. I suppose the concept of chastity is starting to change.
MC: They’re a perfect existence for men who have time and money. The ads I see in tabloids about women looking for marriage and live-in maids are also examples of this. By the way, Mrs. Ueda, you get tied by your husband. Would you share a story of one of your experiences with us? I’m sure you’re here to share with us.
An earthquake during kinbaku
C: It’s quite embarrassing for a woman like me to talk about this in front of all of you… But I suppose I can’t hide anything in front of you all, so here I go. It was about an year after our marriage when we started the activities…
MC: It must’ve shocked you at first.
C: Yes, but I was already obsessed at that point. (laughter) And when my husband tells me ”I’ll tie you up tonight”, I’m often in the mood for it, too.
B: I understand your husband’s feelings very well.
MC: Unless you’re both in the mood, tying and being tied up doesn’t really work out.
C: Yes. But I’ve had one horrifying incident. I’ll never forget about that. It was about the end of autumn, before I had children… That night, my husband had me all tied up in a complicated way. He removed our cabinet door, and tied me onto the door. He made me basically stand on my head, when we suddenly felt a strong tremor. I can’t believe how terrified I was of that earthquake…
A: Your husband must’ve been in great shock…
Image caption: ”Crap…”
C: He was in such a panic. I was completely naked and couldn’t move, and blood was flowing into my brain. I couldn’t make a noise because I was gagged. I have no idea how my husband had the strength to do so, but he pulled the door – with me attached to it – out to our garden. My mother-in-law was out in the garden too, and witnessed the state I was in… (laughter) We really wished we could hide in that moment, but we couldn’t. For a period of time after, I couldn’t look my mother-in-law in her eye. I was terribly embarrassed. She passed away last year, and this is a horrible thing to say, but I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders… (All roaring in laughter)
MC: That’s a situation that nobody would want to be seen in. Especially by your parents. But your mother-in-law must’ve been in greater shock than yourself. She must’ve thought – what horrible things are my son doing to his wife… (laughs)
C: Oh, I wonder… Mr. Tsujimura, there was an article you wrote titled ”A couple’s love and kinbaku, a survey” in the October issue. My husband really relates to that article. So he enjoys shibari as a form of foreplay, rather than seme. [NOTE 9]
A: Most married couples are like that.
C: Yes, so when we tie, I get sometimes get cranky – it can get quite painful if my flesh gets pinched between the ropes. But other than that, I let him do anything he wants – for example, an upside-down suspension isn’t too painful.
B: What a great wife… I’m truly jealous.
C: Oh my, but my husband and I are both happy about our situation, so it’s great…
B: Which means, you enjoy being tied, don’t you?
C: It might be weird to say that I like it, but I probably do because it is with my husband. If it were some random young ruffian that barged into my house and tied me up, I wouldn’t have the same feelings. (laughter)
MC: And if that keeps you happy as a couple, there’s nothing else to say. I feel like you’ve made me listen to you boast about your relationship. Well why don’t we have you share some stories too, Mrs. Mitani…
D: …… (Mrs. Mitani laughs, but does not respond)
MC: It’s unfair, you’ve only been listening to others’ stories.
D: Oh, I’m horrible at telling stories.
MC: It didn’t seem so when you wrote to KK Tsushin. You told your stories in great detail. You’ve said you wanted to meet Mr. Kita. You’re just like Mr. Kita, and you’re not on the receiving end, you get controlled by your desires. Go on, spit it out. If not, I might make the confession for you.
D: I felt like I’ve lost my opportunity to speak, I guess I got a little scared.
MC: You should’ve spoken earlier… You made Mrs. Ueda, who’s younger than yourself, speak, and you’ve kept to yourself. Go on now, tell us the story about the maid…
Tormenting a woman by hanging her by her black hair
D: My sexual urges were planted in me when I was seven or eight years old. My mother and I were at a freak show after paying our respects to a shrine in Gion. There was a Chinese man performing – a boy was tied up from head to toe with some thick rope, thrown into a bag, and the bag was closed tightly.
Image: Mrs. Mitani (D)
B: I’ve seen that a few times myself. After they collect all the money, the audience calls for the boy, and he reappears, having escaped from the rope. I’ve heard that the Chinese man makes him drink a lot of vinegar so his joints become flexible, and he can escape from anything.
MC: They would probably arrest the man for child-abuse in today’s time…
A: All circuses are just about the same.
D: Just like Mr. Nishizawa just mentioned, the way they collected the money was terrible. The boy’s arms were tied to his back, all the way up, and he was taken around for everyone to see. Just when he was right by me, the man placed a rod between his wrists, and twisted the rope even further. I heard something crack, and before I knew it, the arms came out to the front of his body, and the man kept tugging on the rope, dragging the boy around the audience. The boy looked like a stray dog with his arms all messed up, with tears in his eyes, looking down.
A: How horrible.
D: I was looking at him, in shock. My body was shaking. But I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. I had this feeling of wanting to torture him, so I must’ve been a little strange already when I was a child…
B: All children have an interest in the bizarre.
D: And on top of that, you know how criminals were dragged out in public while being hand-cuffed with rope?
MC: When they’re getting transferred?
D: Probably something like that. I used to chase after them and just stare at the situation.
MC: Let’s talk about the maid.
D: I suppose… I, well I’m sure you’re all aware, but my husband passed away four years ago. I live alone with my maid, with nothing to do…
B: What do you do for work?
D: I live off of what my husband left me. I also have some stock in my name, so I’m waiting for that to come through…
A: It’s normal to want something a little different when you have money and extra time on your hands.
D: My maid has been around for two years – she’s very energetic and helpful, so I’ve taken good care of her. But one time, I made her go run an errand… I was waiting for her, but she stayed out without my permission, telling me she was staying with a family member, or something like that. I wasn’t so serious, but I really scolded her. She didn’t stop crying, and begged me to do whatever I pleased.
B: Was that the start of your misadventures?
D: Something like that. Since she spent the night out, I figured she stayed out with a man. I later found out that she really did stay with a family member. But then, I told her that I would do as I pleased…
A: You were being hysterical, huh… (laughter)
D: Well now you’ve said something we were all struggling to say out loud. Well, that’s the truth, so I can’t argue… (laughter) I was irritated, and I really wanted to punish her. So I made her undress to her underwear, tied her arms in the back using a kimono sash, grabbed her by the hair, and dragged her to the closet door. I divided her hair in two parts and tied them onto the beam, suspended her, questioned her what she did the night before, and began torturing her with a ruler.
A: There was a scene just like that in the Reiko Gashu…
MC: (Flipping through pages of the book) Ah, here it is. It’s titled ”Shigure”. The mood is very similar, and…
D: She tells me: ”I didn’t do anything with a man”. I told her I will look into that, and she tells me: ”Yes, please go ahead, do that.”
A: And you undressed her… Well this is becoming interesting.
D: When you’re a virgin, you’re so pure, unlike me… (laughs) But it’s not like that would’ve calmed me down, and I wanted to take my torture to the next level. I got out some acupuncture needles that my late husband used to use, and began stabbing them into her breasts, thigh, and her private areas. I began to feel very excited, and at the same time, my maid’s face began to fluster, and panting. She seemed like she was in pain, but her eyes were closed gently, as if she was enjoying everything. From that incident on, we started playing like that.
A: Seems like she’s a bit on the masochistic side.
D: Probably so. She’s held herself together when I tie and torture her quite strongly, and I’ve used tools on her as well, but it seems like she’s enjoying herself…
B: Tools as in, something like dildos?
D: Things like that. Like kokeshi dolls and vegetables……
MC: Now that Mrs. Mitani’s gotten talkative, why don’t we have the others share their stories?
Tying two women as if they were on a scale
A: I’ve tied two women at once, well, my wife and her sister. Truth be told, my wife’s sister came downstairs to use the restroom, and saw what my wife and I were doing. I was tying her up, and doing all sorts of things to her. At first I didn’t notice anything, but around her second and third time, I felt a presence. I felt a little demonic, and opened up the screen door to show her my wife – who was all tied up and gagged and in nothing but her undergarment. I dragged her sister into the room, warning her that I couldn’t let her be after she had seen what we were doing. I pushed her onto the floor and tied her up in front of my wife. That was the start of it all.
MC: I’m surprised your wife didn’t say anything.
A: At first she wasn’t happy about it, but we made a pact. Since she saw what we were doing, why not enjoy it amongst the three of us… But I promised her that I wouldn’t rape her sister.
B: I’m impressed that her sister agreed. I don’t understand what was going on in her head.
C: Is that true… seriously?
A: It’s true. But obviously the sister was all embarrassed, wiggling in the rope as she was tied onto the floor beam.
B: That’s still going on?
A: No, we only did it about four or five times…
B: She must be troubled, having a strange brother-in-law like you.
D: Perhaps your sister-in-law enjoys being tied, no? Otherwise she wouldn’t be sneaking around to get a peek. I would get it if it were a one-time thing, but…
Image caption: Dragged my sister-in-law into this
A: I don’t know, maybe she’s a masochist. We did something very fun, once. I tied a pulley onto a beam, and tied my wife and her sister with the rope from the pulley. I left my wife tied up, and had her sister climb up to the beam using a ladder, tied her, and removed the ladder. They were both suspended in the air, and when I pulled on my wife’s leg, her sister would go up. I didn’t go any further, but I took a good look at them suspended in the air.
B: And your sister-in-law, you didn’t do anything further with her?
A: As I promised, no, nothing.
B: I’m impressed that you held yourself together. I don’t know what I would’ve done. But perhaps your sister-in-law wanted something more. If she did, that’s such a cruel way of teasing her.
A: She has a prospective husband. She’s going to get married soon. I’m glad I didn’t go any further.
B: She’ll probably serve her husband very well. She got educated so much before her marriage.
MC: Perhaps she will become like Mrs. Ueda and truly enjoy being tied. But Mr. Kawai, your story sounds a bit mischievous too.
C: These days, my husband uses a ladder quite often. He ties me to the ladder. Ties my ankles onto the edges of the ladder, and flips it upside down.
A: There’s so many ways to use a ladder. I tried using one with my wife as well, and it’s great since you can handle it on your own. I made her spread her legs, tied her legs down on the edges, and flipped the ladder upside down. You can easily do an upside down suspension that way. I also use a shortened candle. I’ll light it up and fix it to one of the steps, and the wax will drip onto her body. The flame goes out just in time.
B: Isn’t that hot?
A: The wax is only hot up at the top, so there’s no worries. I mean, the wax is quite hot, but it’s nothing she can’t handle. Once the wax hardens, it’s quite a sight. I’ve done this twice or thrice, but I always get a different outcome.
B: I’ll give it a try. For me, my woman, she lives in an apartment, so we can’t make too much noise. So I’ll tie her, bite her and suck on her. But the other day, both of us got so drunk, and she begged me to be extra mean to her. I decided the time was now, and though I was drunk and dizzy, I placed her on top of the sewing machine table, and tied down her breasts, arms, stomach, hips, and legs onto the steam pipes that went up to the ceiling. Then I moved away the sewing machine-table… Her body was floating in air, and I began to paint obscure drawings on her body using black ink. I drew a penis on her breast, a vagina on her cheek, and so on.
MC: Did you whip her, like they do overseas?
Image caption: Drew obscure illustrations in black ink
B: That’s painful. (laughter) I don’t want to put the woman in pain for my own pleasure.
A: You make it sound like kinbaku involves no pain. It’s quite painful, you know.
B: Yes, but there’s only one thing you can do with whipping. With kinbaku, there are so many options. And using a whip in an apartment… All that noise – there would be rumors piping up everywhere.
C: My husband never beats me. He hit me once with a band, but I told him to stop because it was painful. He never did it again. I’m sure he was just copying illustrations and photos from overseas that he had seen.
A: In foreign countries, when children get mischievous, they get a beating on their bottoms. Those people must be accustomed to being threatened by a whip.
B: There’s another weird play that they do, covering each other in oil and chasing after each other until they get all tired.
A: I sometimes practice rape fantasies. I ask my wife to fight back as much as she can. And then I force her down, tie her up, undress her, and fight again and push myself in. It can be pretty fun.
C: This has got nothing to do with tying, but… we sometimes pull a lotto, and the winner gets to pretend that they’re a baby. Feeding, urinating, bathing, dressing, all of that… You pretend that you’re a child and have the other person take care of you.
A: The wife holding onto the husband, have her legs pulled up, and made to pee… How funny.
MC: All of your stories sound so fun, and kinbaku and seme have become a great addition to your marriage and sex life. The acts themselves are like foreplay. I guess you’re an exception, Mrs. Mitani……
Image: Reporter Tsujimura (MC)
D: Oh, I adore that girl. That’s why I want to torture her. I wonder if you can understand…
A: I understand you, really I do.
MC: And there’s nothing sexual?
D: If I remove her freedom, things naturally go that way…
MC: I’m sure things will becoming interesting if we have someone like Reiko Kita or Tsuruko Matsui write about those stories.
A: Next time, I’d love to have a discussion with them as well.
B: I agree.
MC: I shall let them know. We’ve spent an awful long time talking, so I’d like to call it quits now. Thank you so much for sharing your stories.
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Notes by Bergborg / KinbakuBooks
- The KK通信 was a small publication only for the subscribers of Kitan Club that existed 1952–1954. Often, it consisted of just a few pages.
There is some information on SMpedia: http://smpedia.com/index.php?title=KK通信
And there is a scan here: http://nawa-art.com/backnumber/kktsushin/kktushin.htm
- ”Mr. Kita” is of course the masterful artist Kita Reiko, also known as Minomura Kou and Suma Toshiyuki.
- The Reiko Gashu was a book collecting artwork by Kita Reiko, published in 1952. You get a peek here: http://www.kinbakutoday.com/kita-reikos-1952-album-玲子画帖/
- When this readers’ roundtable-talk was held, in October 1952, it was still quite new for Kitan Club to publish photos of rope-bondage. The photo-section in the October-issue consisted of four pages:
http://nawa-art.com/backnumber/1950/195210/106.html
http://nawa-art.com/backnumber/1950/195210/107.html
http://nawa-art.com/backnumber/1950/195210/108.html
http://nawa-art.com/backnumber/1950/195210/109.html
The issue also featured rather fine illustrations of rope-scenes by Kita Reiko.
- The naked back at the beginning of the 1952 October issue of Kitan Club can be viewed here:
http://nawa-art.com/backnumber/1950/195210/002.html
- The single photo published in the 1952 November issue can be viewed here:
http://nawa-art.com/backnumber/1950/195211/002.html
- I am note sure, but I suspect that Mrs. Ueda’s husband is Ueda Seishiro. See some earlier posts about Ueda Seishiro on KinbakuBooks here: https://kinbakubooks.wordpress.com/?s=ueda&submit=Sök
- Tsujimura tells a version of this childhood story also in a much later interview:
”As I remember it, I realized that there were feelings like this when I was in the 3rd or 4th grade of elementary school. I was playing ‘police and thief’. In this game, you divide into two groups, the police and the thieves. When the police catches a thief, they tie him to a tree. I remember I was having a strange ecstasy when being tied to a tree. So, in my case, it didn’t start with tying but with being tied. I started as an M, not an S.”
Published in full translation here: https://kinbakubooks.wordpress.com/2016/05/18/tsujimura-takashi-interview-in-sankei-weekly-1976/
- You can read Tsujimuras article here:
http://nawa-art.com/backnumber/1950/195210/104.html
http://nawa-art.com/backnumber/1950/195210/105.html
Vincent Guilbert: Fragments of a Whisper (2016)
Kinbaku Books 