Where should I buy Shibari rope? What type of rope do I get?

Where to buy your rope for Shibari and what type of rope to get for Shibari is a dilemma that has faced us all as we've started learning japanese rope bondage. To answer these questions, its important to consider what type of rope tying are you going to be pursuing? Is it a more traditional form of Shibari or Kinbaku? A kind of western fusion variant? Purely for bedroom bondage? Or is it the look of the pretty colours and intricate knots that you're after?

For those of us that are pursuing a more traditional form of Shibari (or Kinbaku) or even a western fusion style, we'll probably lean towards a natural fibre rope - probably Jute but maybe Hemp. For those who are aiming towards the bedroom bondage, purely to enhance good, clean, consensual fun, sexy times or even just chasing the look of the colours and knots, we can stick with Jute or Hemp (they come in some colour variants) or opt for a synthetic fibre like nylon or polyester. They all have their strengths and weaknesses and some are more suitable for one type of tying than others might be. And then theres simple personal preference. But for our purposes here we'll quickly discuss some factors in choosing rope for the more traditional types of Shibari, like we teach in our studio at Shibari Sydney.

We lean towards a good jute rope here at Shibari Sydney. It's just our preference over hemp. Most of us find jute to be that little bit lighter in the hand and a little more responsive as your tying flows, so we'll stick to advising on that. There's nothing at all wrong with using hemp rope if that's YOUR preference - as we always say, rope is many things to many people and there's no One True Way!

OK, so we want a good jute rope. Just go and buy it right? No, it's a bit harder than that. It's all about what kind of experience you want for the person you're tying and how safe you want them to be. You see, jute rope is largely manufactured for industrial and agricultural uses. As such its designed to be cheap, expendable and doesn't always have to strong or have a rated breaking strength because it's generally used to bundle things temporarily or on plants where it's intended to rot away before the plant gets too big. That's not great for us - generally (there are exceptions of course), we want something that is gentler on the skin, doesn't feel abrasive and is strong enough to suspend our models safely. Most jute just doesn't fit the bill.

So the first recommendation is:

Buy it from a reputable seller who knows they're selling rope for Shibari.

Because some sellers either want their margins as low as possible or their prices lower than everyone elses. Simple economics, right? That's great when someone just wants some average product that will do most general purpose tasks to an average standard. But we want more than that from our ropes. We're tying people we care about - we want more than that. We want quality, comfort, safety. You don't get all that for bottom dollar. When buying Shibari rope - you really will get what you pay for. Don't look for the cheapest. Don't look for a more expensive rope if it's intended for general purpose industrial.

Steer away from hardware store rope and most sex shop ropes, online or physical.

Some sellers, who claim they're selling quality jute rope for shibari are selling the cheapest stuff they can import from the foreign aggregate wholesale sites. This is the cheapest rope from the cheapest manufacturer that can serve the intended purpose of tying bundles of garbage or sticks and things like that. It's not the rope I want on a partner that I may actually like! It wont be anywhere near the stronger end of the range and it wont feel nice either. If the seller isn't reputable, then reconsider taking their word for it that their rope is 'the best'. I have seen cheap, hardware store jute leave red, angry looking skin spreading away from the rope as the skin reacts to the abrasive nature of the rope or even some of the chemicals used in the manufacturing process. Look up Jute Batching Oils, thats a whole other argument for you to make your own decision on.

Ask experienced practitioners what they're using and why.

There'll be many people local to you that you may know from classes, events, parties etc who have been around long enough and done enough independent research to answer all your questions and give you some advice. After all, it's what they're actually using.

So having said all that, what rope do we use, recommend and sell?

We stock Koumanawa 'Shizen' Asanawa Jute rope in natural colour. We sell it in 8 metre lengths of 6mm, although we do sell shorter offcuts and can also supply custom lengths. You can find it physically in the studio or for sale in our online store. We also sell 8m x 6mm lengths of pink or red asanawa jute from a different manufacturer and imported from japan. If you're after rolls, you can get 135m (2.5kg) or 540m (10kg) rolls direct from Koumanawa's Oceania Distributor, Koumanawa Australia. Koumanawa is powered by one of the largest rope manufacturers in Japan and is their purpose designed and manufactured jute rope specifically for shibari. They have spent millions purpose engineering and re-tooling mills to batch and manufacture a very high quality and consitent rope for shibari. They have established quality control and training from the growers all the way through to finsihed product. No other company worldwide has done this.

*please note, this and all our blog pieces are personal opinion and based on our experience, circumstances and knowledge. Individual circumstances may be different and only you can judge the relevancy of our opinion to your circumstances.