In short, look what happened to the shibari page of Wikipedia. At the time of writing, there’s blatantly wrong information such as the term shibari being newer than kinbaku… it’s not. Moreover, a shibari or kinbaku page does not even exist. Instead, everything is lumped into “Japanese bondage.” Unfortunately this Wikipedia page is a prime example of why Wikipedia is not a reliable source of information.

The Shibari Dictionary is different because it is researched and moderated. Conflicting views, when both founded, are all expressed with context to show regional variations of usage. It is meant to be an all-encompassing record of the ever-changing usage of terms in the same way mainstream dictionaries are. It also should be used a resource to expand one’s understanding of the variance in how terms are used and can help with understanding practitioners from different regions.