Grateful for Every Time Sean's Taught Us

We’re genuinely lucky every time Sean makes the trip out to teach with us. This is a small recap of what he’s shared with our community so far — mostly so we have it written down properly, for once.

Who he is

Sean — NawaKenshin online (@NawaKenshin) — came to shibari sideways, the way a lot of interesting riggers do. He was a photographer and videographer working in SM and gravure productions, bored with the usual shoots and looking for something less mainstream. That was 2010. Information was scarce back then, work got busy, and he set it down for years.

2019 brought him back to it, and the pandemic lockdown is what actually built his practice — online classes from Japanese masters, and a now-defunct rope video library called Ropeflix that he still talks about missing. From there he found his own throughline, a style he calls Nawakokoro, which he sums up simply: “Tie to excite, to connect, to evoke a dialogue in ropes.”

What he asks his students to take from it isn’t technique-first, either — it’s permission. In his own words, from our interview with him:

“Just enjoy, there is always more than 1 way to do the same thing. Find one that fits you best, and then find one that your partner loves best… So be flexible and just have fun. Don’t be too serious.”

The photography background never really left him — it’s the other half of what he teaches here now, and it shows in how he talks about a scene: how light moves, what a shot needs before the rope is even in hand.

Before we started keeping records

Sean had already been here at least once before we sat down to interview him properly — that August 2025 interview opens by asking what he’d tell people “who weren’t lucky enough to meet you during your last visit,” and closes with him confirming he’d be “visiting soon to teach us again.” We don’t have exact dates for either of those trips written down, honestly. We’re just grateful he kept saying yes to coming back.

April 2026: the fullest weekend yet

The most recent visit gave us the clearest record of his time with us so far — a four-day weekend, April 9th–12th, 2026, that we were thrilled to help put together:

Tension & Rope Handling (Thursday, 2–5pm) — revisiting the fundamentals most riggers skip past: maintaining a good tie, why knots slip, flow, and finger dexterity. Bring your own rope.
Performance & Rope Jam (Friday, 7–11pm) — a live performance at 7pm, followed by an open rope jam until 11.
Rope Photography: Natural Light (Saturday, 10am–6pm) — a full day on how natural light moves, three-point lighting principles applied outdoors and indoors, and how to work with a scene using whatever light is already there.
Rope Photography: Artificial Light (Sunday, 10am–5pm) — continuous LED lighting, colour, mood, and building a scene on purpose rather than by accident. Full lighting kit provided on-site.
Private Sessions — one-on-one time for tying, training, or a photo shoot, booked by appointment across Thursday evening and Friday daytime.

It was the first time the photography side of his practice got its own dedicated curriculum with us, not just a mention in passing — a whole weekend built around the fact that he came to rope through a camera lens in the first place. We’re grateful he trusted us to help him teach it properly.

The same gentle reminder, every time

What comes through every time Sean’s here — in the interview, in the class descriptions, in how he talks about teaching — is how much he wants people to stop overthinking it. Find your own style, tie for connection over sequence, don’t take it too seriously. Simple advice, offered generously each visit, and it seems to land a little differently every time depending on who’s in the room.

We’re grateful for him, and we hope he keeps coming back.