Here are my notes on the first Tengu tie variation I learned. It’s not a bad tie, fairly simple once you get it down. I’ll probably be experimenting with different variations of it from time to time, because I’m not quite happy with this one yet.
What’s a Tengu? I think it’s a winged demon, sometimes crow or canine. I think it’s probable the tie is called that because it’s more dignified than “chicken wings”, which is what I’ve called similar ties in the past.
We start, of course, with a single column tie on one wrist.
Bringing the wrist up against one shoulder, we then run the rope across the back towards the other arm.
Once we’ve achieved that, we wrap the rope a couple of times around the wrist.
Once we’ve wrapped twice, we then need to take the working end of our rope (the long loose bit) and run it beneath the two wraps on the wrist we’ve just done.
The idea is that we want to prevent the rope from tightening too much on the wrist. That wouldn’t be fun for our person. It’s fairly similar to how the little “barrier” is made in the single column tie, but without a lock off just yet.
Once that loop is done, we send the rope back in the direction it’s come from.
.
Once it’s back to the original wrist, and the single column tie we tied there. we run our working end through the bight (the dangling loop from the knot on the wrist), and then bring the loose end back towards the middle of the back.
The idea is that the tension on the rope between the wrists on the back is roughly even, which prevents our second cuff from tightening down against the wrist. Some people would add an additional hitch to the second cuff, after we’ve created our little barrier by bringing the rope beneath the band. It’s not a perfect solution, as it can still tighten down, but it helps. I simply forgot to do it while taking my photo notes.
Okay, so we want to bring the working end roughly to the middle of the back, at the spine, and then we want to create a hitch, because we need to secure our lines (and the tension on those lines) and change direction.
Now that we’ve created our hitch, we’re going to run the working end around the waist, from back to front and then up the back again. The idea behind this is that it helps to secure the overall tie in place, so that it doesn’t shift about all over the place and the hands remain somewhat restrained. Below we have the rope coming around the front, beneath the bust.
And then up the back again towards the center.
Basically, at this point, we’ve got most of the tie done. Now we just need to lock it off. So we take our working end, and try to put it into some kind of closed hitch, maybe with a couple of additional wraps if we want to.
How you finish the Tengu tie doesn’t matter too much, as long as it’s comfortable and reasonably secure.
Summary and Discussion Of The Tengu Tie
This is the first variation of the Tengu tie that I’ve learned; and I find it’s a fairly decent way to restrain someone who has mobility issues with their hands being elsewhere, say, behind their back.
Another good thing about the positioning of the hands is that it’s great for leaving people flat on their back during sex or a scene. It gives plenty of access to the front and back of the body, with the hands out of the way.
What I really want to do is run a few experiments in making it more restrictive and less escapable. I’m not fond of how the tie relies on a waist band for additional security, as that waist band can move a lot.
That said, I think learning this as a kind of “beginner tengu tie” is really helpful in getting the basic principles of how it works down.
I do have some ideas about combining the basic principles with a crotch rope at some stage… I think that would be fun!
