Let’s pick up where we left off with the “CLARA Esinem” saga.
Previously in this rope drama: ropes sold under the “CLARA Esinem” brand between 2024 and 2025 have shown a serious quality issue — they snap after just a few uses. Following a wave of complaints on social media, the retailer was forced to pull the entire batch from the market.
One important clarification upfront: the brand is no longer in Bruce Esinem’s hands. He sold the business years ago and stepped away.
This situation has pushed many people to look for reliable alternatives. A FetLife user did the legwork and tested several suppliers — Amatsunawa, Nawaya, Koumanawa, Ogawa, and ESINEM — and I’m combining their findings with my own firsthand experience.
Worth noting: unsurprisingly, the reviewer explicitly excluded De Giotto (USA) and Fred Hatt (UK), citing negative experiences or a failure to meet basic quality standards.
ESINEM Clara Premium
For over a decade, this was the benchmark rope in Europe.
We used it and recommended it in the dojo. The quality justified its price, which steadily increased over time but never gave us reason to question it. We stopped using it after the pandemic, discouraged by the new management’s indifferent customer service.
Today, that rope is simply not reliable.
The current owners’ neglect has led to a measurable decline in material quality, making it a rope you should actively avoid for suspensions or any load-bearing ties.
Warning: if you’ve purchased rope from this brand in the last 18 months, use it with extreme caution. Many resellers have been distributing it without disclosing the brand name or origin.
Amatsunawa
The single-ply version suffers from consistency and tension issues — it loses its shape and tends to coil in on itself.
It’s a budget rope, and it shows.
The multi-ply version performs better and has a decent flow, thanks to its relatively light weight. However, it feels a bit too reminiscent of the disgraced Clara, both in color and texture. The distributor themselves acknowledge it is not designed for heavy use.
Their website is full of detailed information, but the relatively low price point suggests low production costs — which, in practice, translates to inconsistent jute and questionable long-term durability.
When we moved on from Esinem, Amatsunawa was our next option. The quality was acceptable and the price fair, but the rope arrived very stiff and softened faster than expected. That kind of accelerated wear meant we never felt comfortable trusting it for suspensions or weighted ties.
Technical note: when a rope quickly loses its properties with use, it is often a sign that it was originally designed for agricultural applications, where a single season of durability is sufficient.
Nawaya
Nawaya produces a rope that feels like a throwback — stiff, strong, slightly rough, and built to last.
The main drawback is logistics: it ships from Japan, which means unpredictable delivery times — sometimes surprisingly fast to the Americas, but notoriously slow to Europe — along with the constant risk of customs delays.
For bulk orders, however, the price is hard to beat, likely due to the current weakness of the yen against the dollar.
I first tried this rope over a decade ago, on the recommendation of Arisue Go. By the standards of the time, it was outstanding. I never returned to it — other options offering comparable quality, better logistics, and fewer international shipping complications made it easy to move on. Ordering from Japan, however pleasant the experience, remains a hassle.
Ogawa
No matter how hard some try to associate it with respected nawashi or market it as the gold standard, this rope has been — and remains — garbage: it smells strongly of petroleum, requires aggressive conditioning (tumble drying, baking soda, and more), twists unevenly, has inconsistent strand tension, and raises serious concerns about durability.
I’ve received samples more than once. The best ended up supporting a tomato plant. The rest went straight in the bin.
Koumanawa
A spin-off from Amatsunawa, Koumanawa is the only manufacturer in this comparison that can demonstrate full end-to-end control of the entire process — from raw fiber harvesting to distribution.
That level of traceability reflects its founder Sin’s near-obsessive dedication and genuine passion for shibari.
They currently offer stock from the 2024–2025 harvest, meaning the rope is fresh. It is likely the most expensive option in this comparison, but it also provides the most objectively verifiable guarantees of quality.
It is the rope we use and sell to our students at the dojo — exclusively within mainland Spain — and the one we recommend without hesitation.
Conclusion
These recommendations are based on over twenty years of intensive practice: four to five days a week, years of searching, testing, comparing, and selling.
Everyone claims to offer the best rope. The good news is that this claim can actually be tested.
If you ask me for the best supplier based on objective criteria — material quality, traceability, and consistency — the answer is Koumanawa, full stop. Ask for my personal opinion, and the answer is the same.
If you’ve spent good money on one of the brands that doesn’t fare well in this comparison, you may not agree with any of this. That’s fair. As the philanthropist Darth Vader might say: use that anger — it’s fuel for growth.