A nose hook is a small hook or rope loop placed in the nostrils and pulled upward, so the tip of the nose lifts and the face distorts. A nose hook holds nothing in place and barely hurts: it is meant for the image. In the Japanese rope world this is called hanazeme .

Is a nose hook dangerous?

The biggest risk of a nose hook is not pain but blood. Ninety percent of nosebleeds come from Kiesselbach’s plexus on the front nasal septum, where the end branches of five arteries come together just under a thin mucous membrane, and that is where the hook rests. So hang the string from something that gives and never yank it.

Who can you turn to with questions about a nose hook?

Victor, a gigolo in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, more than twenty-five years active in BDSM and trained as a psychotherapist. Humiliating is not part of what he does, so a nose hook is not on offer, but thinking along about what you are looking for is possible. You can ask with no obligation through the contact form or chat for free first.

Close-up of an open book with a pencil between the pages, in black and white

Glossary

Nose hook

The cheapest tool to make someone look ridiculous, and that is exactly why it is not casual.

What is a nose hook?

Nose hook (in Dutch: neushaak) is a small hook or loop placed in the nostrils and pulled upward, so the tip of the nose lifts and the face distorts. A nose hook barely hurts and is almost entirely about the image. In the Japanese rope world this is called hanazeme.

Also known as	hanazeme in the rope scene
Japanese	鼻責め, from 鼻 (hana, nose) and 責め (seme, torment, also blame or liability)
Status of the word	scene Japanese: 鼻責め is not listed as an entry in the Japanese dictionaries
Category	a tool for humiliation, not for bondage: a nose hook holds nothing in place
Versions	a curved metal hook on a string, or a loop of the rope itself, hung from a hair tie
Main risk	a nosebleed and tearing of the nostril; the hook sits exactly where the blood vessels meet

What a nose hook does

It changes a face, and that is the whole function.

Pull the nostrils up and something disappears that you normally do not notice: the outline someone recognizes themselves by. What is left is a face that looks stupid, animal or comical, and the person wearing it knows that precisely. That is why the nose hook is nearly always named together with humiliation and rarely with tying. A nose hook restricts no movement at all.

The Japanese word says the same. Seme (責め) means, according to Jisho, both “torment, torture” and “blame, liability”, and the verb 責める covers accusing, urging, tormenting and even the breaking in of a horse. So there is no pain in that word, but calling someone to account for something. That is more precise than what we call “nose hook”.

Why a nose hook is not casual

Because the gentlest tool sits on the hardest spot.

The StatPearls entry on epistaxis describes that 90 percent of nosebleeds come from Kiesselbach’s plexus, also called Little’s area, on the front part of the nasal septum. There the end branches of five arteries come together, just under a thin mucous membrane. The hook lies right against it. A yank on the string is therefore rarely a pain problem and more often a blood problem.

In practice it comes down to three things. Hang the string from something that gives instead of fixing it tight. Never combine a nose hook with a gag without staying present, because then both airways are at stake at once. And agree beforehand whether someone also wants to look that way in a photo, because with this tool that is the real question.

Where this fits on this site

Humiliating is not what I do; I write myself that empowerment is the starting point and that shouting is not in me. What is possible, such as agreed forms of address, hair-pulling and corrective taps, is on the page about the BDSM date.

Sources

Epistaxis. Ayesha Tabassom & Julia J. Dahlstrom, StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf, last updated 12 September 2022. Provides the distinction between anterior and posterior nosebleeds, the finding that 90 percent of anterior nosebleeds come from Kiesselbach’s plexus (Little’s area) on the front nasal septum, and the five arteries (anterior and posterior ethmoidal artery, sphenopalatine artery, greater palatine artery and superior labial artery) whose end branches come together there.
責め (せめ). Jisho.org, with the data from JMdict. Provides the meanings of 責め as “responsibility, liability, blame” and “torture, torment”, and of the verb 責める as accusing, reproaching, urging, tormenting and the breaking in of a horse. Also provides, together with the absence of an entry 鼻責め in Jisho and on Kotobank, the finding that hanazeme is scene Japanese and not a dictionary word.

Humiliation. The field the nose hook belongs to, with the agreements that apply there.
Degradation. The heavier variant in words, which a nose hook is often brought in with.
Gag. The tool you had better not combine a nose hook with unseen.
Hood. The opposite idea: taking the face away instead of distorting it.
Hair-pulling. What the string of a nose hook is often hung from.
Shibari. The tradition in which this appears under the name hanazeme.

Frequently asked questions

What people still ask about the nose hook.

What is a nose hook?
A nose hook is a small hook or rope loop placed in the nostrils and pulled upward, so the tip of the nose lifts and the face distorts. A nose hook holds nothing in place and barely hurts: it is meant for the image. In the Japanese rope world this is called hanazeme.
Is a nose hook dangerous?
The biggest risk of a nose hook is not pain but blood. Ninety percent of nosebleeds come from Kiesselbach’s plexus on the front nasal septum, where the end branches of five arteries come together just under a thin mucous membrane, and that is where the hook rests. So hang the string from something that gives and never yank it.
Who can you turn to with questions about a nose hook?
Victor, a gigolo in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, more than twenty-five years active in BDSM and trained as a psychotherapist. Humiliating is not part of what he does, so a nose hook is not on offer, but thinking along about what you are looking for is possible. You can ask with no obligation through the contact form or chat for free first.

Learn more

Still have questions about the nose hook?

I'm Victor. This is one from the category where people want to know whether it's really as bad as it looks, whether they'd dare it, and whether they only want it in a photo. Put your question to me; it costs nothing and commits you to nothing.

Closing CTA on /term/nose-hook, rendered by GlossaryTerm.astro as the last block on the page. Pairs with the final FAQ item 03-learn-more-about-nose-hook.md. No service.md beside it: the owner’s own text (about/bdsm-profile/05-playing-together, “humiliating not my thing”) rules this tool out, so there is no service card to place. This body text is never rendered.

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