Glossary
Semenawa
One word that in the Japanese dictionary means both to torment and an imposed duty, and both apply here.
What is semenawa?
Semenawa (責め縄, literally “torment-rope”) is rope work where the tension of enduring is the point, not the pattern. The tie is deliberately heavy or uncomfortable, and what there is to see comes out of how someone carries that load. The encyclopedia on Japanese bondage translates it simply as rope torture.
| Written | 責め縄, from 責め (seme, to torment) and 縄 (nawa, rope) |
| English translation | rope torture, the rendering the encyclopedia gives |
| Category | an approach within shibari, not a particular tie |
| What it resembles | predicament bondage, where the dilemma itself carries the scene |
| Dictionary status | 責め縄 has no entry of its own; only the separate parts 責め and 縄 are in the dictionaries |
What the word 責め carries
More than pain alone. It also carries duty, and even music.
The Digital Daijisen lists five meanings side by side for 責め. The first is to hurt someone mentally or physically to discipline them, and the dictionary notes that in the form -zeme it also serves as a suffix. The second is the imposed task, the responsibility, the duty. The fourth belongs to Japanese music and dance: the part just before the finale that rises higher and faster. The JMdict dictionary also sets those first two side by side, as “responsibility, liability, blame” and “torture, torment,” and gives the verb 責める a fourth meaning as well: to break in a horse.
That suffix -zeme is no accident. The dictionary entry for 海老責め, the prawn tie, describes an interrogation method from the Edo period in which a prisoner was bound with crossed legs and their body pressed forward until neck and feet touched. The Nihon Kokugo Daijiten adds that this method, together with flogging and the stacking of stones, officially counted as rōdoi, questioning that was not yet called torture, and that it was rarely used in practice.
What that says about the practice
That semenawa looks at the receiver and not at the tie.
Where a karada or a hishi is finished the moment the pattern is right, semenawa is finished only once something has been endured. That makes it the heaviest corner of shibari, and the corner where the agreements about the pain threshold and the safeword are not decorative.
Where this fits on this site
This corner of rope work starts with the question of how heavy you want it, and I’d rather have that conversation too thoroughly than too briefly. How an evening with rope is set up and what gets settled beforehand is on the page about the BDSM date.
Sources
- 責め（せめ）. Kotobank, with the entry from the Digital Daijisen (Shogakukan), lemma id 548862 found through Kotobank’s search function. Gives the five meanings of 責め: hurting someone mentally or physically to discipline them (with the note that in the form -zeme it is used as a suffix), the imposed task or responsibility, the ring on a sword scabbard or fan, the part just before the finale in music and dance that rises higher or faster, and blowing hard on the transverse flute.
- 海老責め（えびぜめ）. Kotobank, with the entries from the Digital Daijisen and the Seisenban Nihon Kokugo Daijiten (Shogakukan), lemma id 446061. Gives the description of the prawn tie as an interrogation method from the Edo period, the note that together with flogging and the stacking of stones it was counted among the rōdoi and not among actual torture, that it was rarely used in practice, and the oldest source from an ukiyo-zōshi of 1707.
- 責め. せめ. Jisho, based on the JMdict and Kanjidic2 dictionary files from the Electronic Dictionary Research and Development Group. Gives the two registered meanings of 責め (“responsibility, liability, blame” and “torture, torment”) and the four meanings of the verb 責める, including “to torture, to torment, to persecute” and “to break in (a horse)”.
- Japanese bondage. Wikipedia. Gives the translation of semenawa as rope torture and the observation that the ebi tie counts today as a form of it, plus the list of the four Edo methods for getting a confession. Several paragraphs of this entry carry a citation request; it is used here only for the translation and the terminology.
Related terms
- Shibari. The tradition semenawa is the heaviest approach within.
- Kinbaku. The Japanese word for the erotic form, and the counterpole of this corner.
- Predicament bondage. The Western setup closest to semenawa: the dilemma carries the scene.
- Pain threshold. The agreement that weighs heavier here than in any other rope form.
- Jibaku. The opposite movement: binding yourself, without anyone to torment.
- Shinju. The other Japanese loanword from this family, and the lighter of the two.
Frequently asked questions
What people still ask about semenawa.
What is semenawa?
What does the word part 責め in semenawa mean?
Two things at once. The Digital Daijisen gives as the first meaning of 責め hurting someone mentally or physically to discipline them, and as the second the imposed task, the responsibility. In the form -zeme it is also the suffix in the names of Edo interrogation methods, like 海老責め, the prawn tie. Note: the compound word 責め縄 has no dictionary entry of its own.
Who can you turn to with questions about semenawa?
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Still have questions about semenawa?
I'm Victor. This is the heaviest corner of rope work, and it's exactly there that you decide beforehand how far it goes and where it stops. Want to know how I build that up, or just ask something? Send me a message. No obligation, I'll message you back whenever suits you.