Shibari starter kit, what to buy for your first class

You are going to your first shibari class. You want a starter kit that covers what the class will actually teach without spending on rope you will not touch for months. Here is the short version.

Two ropes is the absolute minimum

An introduction class typically teaches a single-column tie, a double-column tie, sometimes a two-rope chest harness, and a handful of other foundational patterns. All of that is reachable with two 8 m ropes and a pair of dedicated safety shears. You will not need more for several weeks of practice.

If your budget is tight or your interest is exploratory, two ropes plus shears is enough to begin. We sell single 8 m ropes; pair one of each fibre if you want to compare, or pair two of the same if you have already decided.

The recommended starter is three ropes

Our starter kit ships three 8 m ropes plus a pair of EMT shears for €60 from Leuven. Three is the smallest number that lets you tie a one-rope harness, extend it into a two-rope pattern, and keep a third rope ready to extend that pattern or tie elsewhere on the body.

Three ropes will see most beginners through their first few months of classes and home practice. The same few shapes get repeated many times in that period; the kit does not need to be bigger than the patterns.

We sell the kit we are recommending. We also sell five-rope and eight-rope kits, and the three-rope option is the one we steer first-class students towards because it is what most students actually use in practice.

Length, 8 m

8 m is the most common shibari rope length in the West, and it is what we cut to. Other shops sit close by rather than exactly on it: Anatomie / Shibari Store EU in London sells treated jute at 7.5 m and 15 m, and the Japanese convention is often 7 m, though it varies nowadays. Folded in half, an 8 m rope gives you about 4 m of working length. You can read the longer length discussion for the trade-offs.

If you want a non-default length, write to us before you order and we will cut to spec. The rope itself is the same; only its length changes.

Diameter, 5 mm POSH or 6 mm jute

This is the one shop choice that catches first-time buyers off guard, so it is worth a paragraph.

We sell our POSH at 5 mm and our Ogawa jute at 6 mm, deliberately one size apart. In our own handling those two products feel close enough to work as parallel options. That is a stock decision about our rope, not a general rule about synthetic and natural rope. Other EU shops sell POSH at 6 mm too, and there is nothing wrong with that.

If you are going to one specific class and the instructor recommends a diameter, follow that recommendation. Otherwise our default is 6 mm jute or 5 mm POSH. The thickness entry has the full discussion, including why thicker rope is not automatically a friendlier rope.

POSH or jute

Set this aside if you can. Both cost the same at our shop (€20 single, €60 in the starter kit) because they are parallel choices. Pick whichever you enjoy maintaining and bring it to your first class.

We like to compare choosing between them to picking a kitchen knife. Our natural jute is the hand made Japanese carbon-steel knife. It rewards care with feel and beauty, but needs maintaining. POSH is the stainless-steel workhorse. It handles rough use, can be put in the dishwasher and doesn’t need extra care. The longer side-by-side is in POSH vs jute, and the rope-care entry covers what each fibre asks of you in practice.

Other questions, JBO, hemp, dye, breaking in new rope, are real first-purchase questions for some buyers, but they are usually not the questions that change an introduction class outcome. They are covered elsewhere in the handbook when you want them: JBO and batching oils, jute vs hemp, breaking in new jute.

Safety shears

Bring shears every time you tie. The starter kit includes a pair of basic EMT shears at no extra cost. They are not glamorous, they will dull after regular use, but the notched blunt tip slides flat under rope against skin, which is what you want when the priority is cutting fast without nicking the body underneath. That is the minimum for an introduction class.

Keep the shears in a fixed, known place that you or your partner can reach without looking. Whichever pocket of your rope bag, whichever clip on your belt, whichever drawer next to where you tie: same place, every time.

If you outgrow the basic shears, our folding heavy-duty shears (the standalone option, €35; or the kit upgrade, +€27 over the starter kit price) are the next step. More on cutter choice in safety cutters.

What the kit looks like, plainly

Item	Qty	Notes
8 m rope	3	Jute or POSH, any mix
EMT shears	1 pair	Basic, included
Total		€60 from Leuven

Belgian-finished rope, hand-packed in Leuven, dispatched in two working days. EMT shears are bundled free with every kit.

What you will probably want within a month

You do not need any of these on day one. They tend to come up after a few sessions.

• A second pair of shears to leave in your rope bag, so the pair in the bedroom and the pair in your bag are not the same pair.
• A rope bag. Anything that closes and breathes. A drawstring laundry bag works. A dedicated rope roll or furoshiki is the tradition.
• A small notebook. Tie names, knot variations, what worked, what did not. A pocket-sized notebook you can look back through after a few classes brings more value than another rope.

You will know when to add more rope. The signal is usually a specific tie you want to do that genuinely needs more, not a feeling of needing more in general.

Where to learn

You are already most of the way there if you are going to a class. Tsuri Neko runs private rope lessons in Leuven for new students. The wider Tsuri Neko site lists upcoming class dates, a longer reading list, and other schools we recommend.

The short summary

Three ropes, one pair of shears, €60. Each rope is 8 m, in 6 mm jute or 5 mm POSH. Practise the same patterns until they feel slow rather than awkward, then add a rope.