Nureki Chimuo Archive

I had resolved to take a deep breath, pull myself together, and get down to business, but when producer Nakahara called me out on it, I realized my resolve was, after all, rather naive.

The “habit” cultivated over such a long time is a frightening thing.

Habit has a way of flowing toward the lowest, easiest path.

In other words, it is decadence.

What makes it so terrifying is that I don’t even realize it myself.

By the time I do realize it, I’m already sitting cross-legged at the bottom, feeling smug and content in my complacency.

As an experiment prior to the launch of the “Tomoshibi” group, we planned to create a new photo book featuring Hiromi Saotome as the model.

In my mindset leading up to that shoot, there was, as expected, that complacent comfort I had settled into.

I looked up the word “comfort” (anju) in the Obunsha Japanese Dictionary that I always keep close at hand.

The first definition of “anju” is “to live in peace and security,” but the second is “to be satisfied at a certain stage without aspiring to higher things.”

It was this second definition of “anju” that producer Nakahara Rutsu called me out on and pressed me regarding my mindset for this upcoming shoot.

I believed that if I tied up Saotome with all my might while producer Rutsu watched me intently with her large, gleaming eyes, and if photographer Yamanouchi captured that moment with his delicate sensibility, a fine photo book would naturally come together without much effort.

I believed that if the unwavering will of four people, all facing the same direction, were to be locked away in a single room, come together, and burn with single-minded intensity, that alone would produce a bondage photo book of a kind never seen before, one that would be truly satisfying.

“Isn’t that thinking a bit naive?” producer Rutsu asked, her huge eyes fixed on me.

“Let’s not take photos where there’s no setting, no story, just a man holding rope for no reason and tying up a woman. Come on, Sensei, Nureki Sensei, it doesn’t matter if it’s cliche, old-fashioned, or run of the mill, let’s create some kind of story and take photos that fit that situation. You know, like those fun photos from the Uramado era that Minomura Ko and Nureki Sensei took so often. The ones with that narrative depth hidden in the background…”

The phrasing is different, and the nuances of the words vary slightly, but this is the gist of what she was passionately pleading with me.

Overwhelmed by her intensity, I was left at a loss.

“Yeah, you’re right.” I couldn’t help but nod in agreement.

To be honest, what I had planned for this shoot was simply a man (that is, me) holding a rope with no particular meaning or purpose, and tying up a woman (that is, Hiromi Saotome) with practiced ease.

I intended to put more energy into my rope work than usual to showcase my skills, and then wrap up the shoot.

After that, I could just leave it up to Saotome’s reactions and photographer Yamanouchi’s shooting technique…

But producer Nakahara says that won’t do.

If we do that, the result will be no different from the quality of the photo books and videos currently flooding the market.

Just because I have a slight edge in rope handling, how much value does that really add to the work?

A man appears for no reason, ties a woman up with rope, and the woman, again without any explanation, meekly and silently allows herself to be bound by him.

The ease with which it ends, with the woman striking a dreamy expression, without any buildup or justification leading up to that moment. The inherent appeal of SM has vanished here.

Producer Rutsu had long been tilting his head in dissatisfaction regarding this superficiality. That dissatisfaction is one and the same as the genuine, unadulterated desires of bondage enthusiasts with sincere hearts.

That is precisely why we must not repeat the same mistakes during the filming of “Tomoshibi.” We must not disappoint true bondage enthusiasts.

I was moved by producer Rutsu’s passion.

In fact, I feel a certain degree of responsibility for the state of society where such facile photos and videos are allowed to prevail (though they have become much rarer).

I constantly feel in my heart that it was actually me, Nureki Chimuo, who first demonstrated this kind of easy, low-effort, low-cost footage, where a man ties a woman up with rope for no reason or necessity, the woman offers no resistance and submits meekly, and then, as expected, looks entranced.

My low budget bondage videos were sold in large quantities and turned a profit for a time over a decade ago, riding the wave of commercialism.

(To be honest, back then I once starred in three titles of that “Introduction to Bondage” type of video in a single day. This was an era when each title was thirty minutes long.)

It has been quite some time since bondage videos that merely demonstrate tying techniques were abandoned by commercial interests.

Yet, I hear rumors that even now, the mere shell of the genre remains, and new works occasionally appear on the market.

That’s why… yes, precisely for that reason, I must wholeheartedly heed producer Rutsu’s advice at this point.

I must thank her and tell her, “You were right to say that.”

No, actually, I already thanked her when we parted ways that day.

“Thank you. Speaking up like that is part of your job as a producer. You did the right thing. If you hadn’t said anything, I would have tried to get by with some cheap, superficial tricks again. Thank you. I’m grateful.”

Saying that, I bowed my head, opened the door to the Sex Industry Museum, stepped out into the lobby, and pressed the button for the elevator to go from the fifth floor to the first.

Well, for these reasons, my inner self has now strangely tightened up, and I’ve started thinking up the most down-to-earth, picture book-style cliched story.

Based on the interesting SM story I wrote about at length in the old Uramado, I’ll develop a scene where I attack Saotome, tie her up, and torment her in a lewd, relentless manner.

Somehow, I’m starting to feel excited.

Come to think of it, creating that kind of graphic novel is the field of work I’m best at.