What does futumomo actually mean, and how do we understand this term within the world of Shibari?
The Japanese reference
In Japanese, futumomo literally refers to the thigh.
It’s written with the kanji 太股 (meaning “thick” + “groin”) in anatomical or medical contexts, while the hiragana form 太もも appears in everyday language, often carrying a subtle erotic nuance.
It’s the word often used to describe the strip of bare skin visible between a schoolgirl’s socks and skirt.
So in Japanese, futumomo simply means “thigh”—a fact worth keeping in mind when we explore the technique and structure of this tie.
Romanization of the term futumomo
In Romance languages, the word is written and pronounced “futumomo,” since the phonetic transcription from Japanese characters into romanji is nearly one-to-one.
Strongly nationalist riggers like Yagami Ren sometimes prefer the Kunrei or Nihon romanization systems, which are more traditional.
These methods mirror Japanese pronunciation more accurately in writing, and since Romance languages share about 99% of their phonemes with Japanese, the sound correspondence is almost exact.
Things change, however, with the Hepburn system—introduced after World War II—which adapts to English phonetics.
As a result, the same Japanese word can be transcribed and pronounced differently depending on the country and its romanization conventions.
That’s why it’s important not to fall into the trap of thinking there’s only one “correct” way.
Especially with Japanese, there’s usually more than one right path—depending on which romanization system you follow.
Slang in the Showa era
By the end of the Showa era, another, more playful interpretation of the word appeared within the underground Shibari scene.
Here, “futu” was understood as a Japanized form of the English word foot (part of Japanglish slang), and “momo” means “peach” in Japanese, a cheeky reference to the buttocks.
Bringing those two ideas together—foot and rear—became a quick and vivid way to describe a tie that was then being used mostly in pornographic film productions.
The goal was to help position and frame the female genitals directly in front of the camera.
Interestingly, as that genre kept pushing boundaries toward the extreme, in our current Reiwa era the futumomo has been largely replaced in that role by the position known as daruma.
That pose not only exposes the body more completely but also makes it easier to film fetishes involving enemas or the insertion of large objects.
And no—futumomo is by no means an efficient or practical restraint.
Linking it to “samurai” or prisoner imagery is pure romantic fantasy.
West Side Story
In the West, meanwhile, the term was borrowed to describe various bindings involving the legs—typically with the knees bent and the foot drawn toward the glutes.
Later in this topic, we’ll see why that approach can be both dangerous and ultimately pointless.