We are always getting asked about rope lengths for shibar. For Nina and I, shibari is about efficiency and elegance. Its antecedent, hojojutsu, relied on speed as a necessity for effective capture or arrest so we like to maintain this aspect. I’ll explain why 7-8m makes sense for us. I usually use about 7.3m (24ft as near as), maybe less for old-style. It works well for me on smaller girls.
I have also made a video showing why shibari rope length is important, which you can find here.
I can see some reading this and thinking “Well, one long bit is much more efficient that having to join bits all the time” or “My partner is not standard Japanese model size”. At first sight, that seems quite logical. I was told something rather different by Osada Steve. He said that the most efficient length is equal to the span of your outstretched arms, with the rope doubled (as one normally uses it) and folded in half, i.e. more or less what you can pull through in one arm movement. I’d say a little longer is OK as you will lose some of the length with the first wrap or two. More than one arm movement is less efficient and smooth. With very long lengths, you can end up looking like Jolly Jack Tar hauling up an anchor rope 🙂
Often when you make a turn, knot or friction, you will have to pull the entire length through. For example, to make a cinch on the wrap of a gote (box tie), you pull the rope between arm and torso around the cinch then back again. So that’s twice for each cinch. Let’s say your rope is 10m (approx 33ft) and not 7m. That’s 6m extra for each cinch (2 x pull throughs)…four cinches, so up to 4 x 6m = 24m extra! Then, there’s all the frictions etc. As you can see, that can add up to a lot of extra pull throughs.
With properly coiled rope and a well-practiced joining technique, I’ll wager that you can more than make up the time it takes to do a couple of extra joins. You should barely break your stride. Not only is it important to make the join slickly but you need to consider when you make a join. Most people join too early and disconnect too late. Leave joins till the last possible moment. Can you make that extra turn or wrap first? If so, do it! If you don’t, you will have a whole rope to pull through unnecessarily. Same rules apply when you untie: Minimise pull-throughs. Disconnect as soon as you reasonably can. If you leave it on, you will have to pull it back through. Efficiency!
Ah, but you say “I need 2 x 9m because 2 x 8m is too short and 3 x 8m is far too long for my partner”. There’s nothing more ugly than having more than you can conveniently lose. Well, that’s where, what I call, the ‘get out the shit bit’ comes in. I like to carry an odd length of around a couple of meters (approx 6ft). There’s no shame in that. In fact, I picked it up from, I believe, Kinoko. It solves the problem of rope only coming in two lengths: Just a bit too short and just a bit too long. The ‘get out the shit bit’ is usually sufficient to complete the tie without over-doing the macrame. It also saves time, which can be important in performance situations.
Nina and I demonstrate all this in the earlier parts of Tying Techniques. This is what a recent student said about it:
“I completed the course and loved how well the reasoning behind each movement was explained, rope efficiency and how the energy is transmitted through the rope. Its IMPRESSIVE!!!
I can’t wait to complete the next 2 courses for the same subject and soon ALL the courses”