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Kinoko Hajime will be performing and teaching at the Festival. Kinoko is one of the younger generation of Japanese kinbaku stars, whose epiphany came when Akechi Denki performed at his club. He is hotly tipped by Osada Steve to be one of the next ‘rope gods’ and I have heard quite a few glowing reports on the grapevine. We are very honoured that he will make our event his UK debut.

You can see his varied performance styles on his [3] web site, which range from traditional to unconventional ‘neo-shibari’, as he calls it. When he asked which we would prefer as a show, I gave the only sensible answer: “Both, do two shows!”. You might have to be patient to watch the videos as the server seems a bit flakey but it’s well worth the persistence. His work is fantastic now. Just imagine what he will be doing by the time he gets to the age of some of the veterans! Here’s a great [4] interview with him by my good friend in Tokyo, KabukiJoe.

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