Raise Her Spirits with Konjobo

Update: It now appears that "konjobo" is not an accurate word for this instrument. See this post.

There was a discussion at one of the groups on FetLife recently concerning the instrument depicted in the above photo. A friend of mine, a moderator at Forum Bondage, provided the correct info. It's called konjobo in Japanese -- spirit stick.

I guess after getting smacked a few times with one of these, you will become more spirited.

A  simple yet devious device, it consists merely of a length of bamboo split down the center about three-quarters of the way with the uncut portion forming the handle. Some have a hole in the handle through which a length of cord is inserted to facilitate transport.

I was trying to recall what films I had seen that referenced Yoshitoshi, the last great ukiyo-e artist. I'm pretty sure there have been at least two. I thought that he had been mentioned in Twisted Sex which I wrote about in this post, however, after another viewing, it seems there was no mention of Yoshitoshi.

From Yoshitoshi.Net

One of Yoshitoshi's most famous works (at least to the SM crowd) was The Lonely House on Adachi Moor. I wrote about this on my other blog but it's been a few years so I'll repeat myself here.

I was out with Esinem in the Tokyo neighborhood of Jimbocho and we walked into an art shop. On the wall was an honest-to-goodness print of Yoshitoshi's Lonely House.

Copyright Esinem

He ended up buying it and it now hangs proudly in his London home.

So anyway, no mention of Yoshitoshi in Twisted Sex. There was definitely a mention in the 1981 Nikkatsu film Image of a Bound Girl in which a professor presents a picture of Lonely House to his bored class during a lecture. I don't have a screen grab of that scene but here are the DVD cover and poster.

Dan Oniroku's Image of a Bound Girl -- Nikkatsu

Twisted Sex showcased the artwork of Ito Seiu who was, not surprisingly, influenced and inspired by Yoshitoshi. So much so that he recreated the upside down suspension scene in 1919 using his own pregnant wife. You can see the photo at the link.

Ito Seiu in the documentary Twisted Sex

Ito Seiu photography as shown in Twisted Sex

Ito Seiu art from Twisted Sex

I've never been much of a fan of manga or anime but I recently came across an anime of Kekko Kamen. Years ago I'd watched a couple of the live action videos and found them to be rather enjoyable although I don't recall them having much in the way of bondage.

It seems like they put all the good stuff in the anime (and probably the manga but I haven't seen that).

I think it's time to give anime another look.