You’ll come across a lot of new words when learning rope.  There are a lot of Japanese words used as well mainly because there aren’t good direct translations or the translated term is a lot longer than the short Japanese word just as they use a lot of English words.  When possible, we’ll use the English words.

Common Terms:

• Band – a wrap of rope around the body
• Bight – most commonly the middle of a rope; a loop formed by folding the rope
• Carabiner (‘biner) – a coupling link with a safety closure mainly used for rock climbing (use carabiners rated for climbing )
• Floor Work – rope bondage done on the ground and not suspending the person
• Friction – a “knot” formed by wrapping or crossing the rope on itself
• Hank / Bundle – one piece of rope usually folded to make it compact and so that it doesn’t tangle in a bag
• Hard Point – a secure point used to anchor a suspension from
• Harness – a tie done on the person that is designed to hold the person’s weight usually for a suspension
• Load – applying force to a tie usually to lift part of the body for a suspension
• Rigger – In the rope community is usually refers to the person tying
• Partial Suspension – using the rope to partially hold a person up of the ground and leaving part of their body on the ground
• Reverse Tension – folding the rope back; making a 180 degree turn in the direction of the rope
• Ring – the wood or metal ring used to tie the ropes to for a suspension connected to the hard point
• Rope Bottom – the person being tied
• Rope Switch – a person who likes to tie and be tied
• Rope Top – the person tying
• Running End – the rest of the rope coming off of where you tied it to
• Scene – a pre-planned space where the tying takes place; generally the scene is discussed fully and consists of an agreed upon beginning, middle, and end
• Suspension – using rope to completely lift a person off the ground
• Tension – usually used to refer to how tightly the rope is being tied on the body
• Upline / Suspension Line – the rope connecting the harness to the hard point holding the body up

Common Japanese Terms: 

• Asanawa – rope made of bast fiber (usually jute or hemp)
• Bakushi / Nawashi – rope top/artist
• Ebi – translates to shrimp; usually a tie with the person sitting cross legged with the body folded inward at the waist
• Hishi – diamond shaped patterns in the tie
• Hojojitsu – traditional Japanese martial art of restraining a person using cord or rope
• Ichinawa – a technique for using only one rope for the entire scene (more on it here)
• Kannuki – loosly translated as a cinch that holds ropes in place but not cinched tightly as we would normally think of a cinch
• Nawa – rope
• Semenawa – torture rope; bondage that intentionally inflicts pain
• Shibari – to tie
• Takate Kote (TK, Gote, Box Tie) – a fundamental chest harness with the arms folded behind the back
• Tengu – a type of tie that folds the arms and secures them up by the shoulders
• Tengui – dish rag; usually used as a blindfold or gag
• Teppou – rifle tie; one arm folded and up at an angle above the shoulder and the other arm behind the back reaching up towards the neck
• Tsuri – suspension
• Yoko Tsuri – side suspension