Erotic Art of Kaname Ozuma

Exploring the Garden of Love (Sasatsu Koiniwa), is Kaname Ozuma’s celebration of kinbaku, which means ‘tight tying’, using traditional three-strand jute rope called asanawa, Japanese for ‘hemp rope’. Kinbaku uses rope to tie and restrain the body for the purpose of erotic pleasure. Seasoned kinbaku masters, known as bakushi, say the art takes years to master and is difficult to find in the world of mass produced pornography. During the Edo period, from around 1600 to 1860, rope was used as both restraint and punishment. Certain techniques were developed, including some which continue to be used today like the ‘shrimp tie’, but bondage as a sexual art was not widespread in Japan until the early 1900s. The Japanese artist Kaname Ozuma (or in Japanese naming order, which puts the family name first, Ozuma Kaname) grew up in Niigata on the country’s east coast, and was trained in classical Japanese painting by his uncle, the master Sakai Soushi. For many of his works he also used the nom d’artiste Yoko Youko, or Yoko the Fox.