Subay is a Shibari artist and founder of Kokoro Studio based in Hong Kong. She was first introduced to Shibari eight years ago and spent the first few years exploring and learning the different styles from several well-respected nawashi in Japan.  In 2014, she met and was deeply inspired by Yukimura Haruki, and from then on she dedicated herself to the study of the traditional Japanese style.  In 2015, Subay met Naka Akira and chose to focus her study on his style of semenawa.  She continues to explore her own style of semenawa which she describes as both feminine and inclusive. She teaches and performs internationally.

Fox and Mya attended one of Subay’s classes on empathy and rope, and loved her focus on the feelings and emotions in rope, and in this interview explore these topics, along with:

◦ Some of the feelings Shibari brings out in Subay herself

◦ How a challenging experience with a Rigger led her to start tying herself

◦ Body image and stereotypes and generalisations in rope bondage

◦ What drew her to her teacher, @NakaAkira

◦ The signs she looks for to tell her more about the feelings of the person in her rope

◦ How she knows whether her students are ready to move onto the next class

◦ Some of the limits of our ability to explore emotions in rope

◦ How rope bottoms can express and communicate their emotions better

◦ Why rope tops need to be as vulnerable as rope bottoms

◦ Fascinating cultural differences in rope communities around the countries she has visited