Japanese bondage rope by Doc Johnson - review by oliverHyde

Doc Johnson's Japanese bondage rope is an excellent choice if you want to level up your rope play but you're not ready to spend $40 on traditional Japanese hemp. It's cheap, it has an excellent texture, it's very soft, and it's an excellent length for several different ties. My sub is of medium build and we're able to get through several versions of the chest harness, crotch harnesses, a few hogties, and one full-body harness with this rope and still have enough extra to tie her to something. The rope also makes very secure knots, so it's an excellent choice if you want to achieve full immobilization.

Before I bought this, my sub and I had been using $3 hardware store rope. Although the hardware-store cotton rope works perfectly well, it's not as comfortable and it's nowhere near as pretty as this rope.

When I brought it home, the first thing I did was to loosen it out on the floor and start working out the kinks (lols) the rope gets from being in the package by slowly running it through my hands. About halfway down the rope I found a fairly significant weak spot that had already started to fray. Sadly, this weak spot has gotten steadily worse with each use.

Other than the weak spot, this rope feels amazing. It's extremely soft and supple, with just the right amount of give. Since it's cotton it has a pretty high burn factor. If you tie too quickly with this rope you will get rope burn. Run the rope through your hands a few times before using it. It will give you an idea of the speed you should be tying and it will foster a relationship with your rope.

This rope also very secure, but it tends to form difficult to untie knots (especially if you or your partner like to struggle against the rope) so it's a good idea to use quick release knots and keep paramedic shears handy. I found that it tends to stretch about an inch for every two feet of rope after play, so I'd recommend tying a little tighter so it stays secure during play.

Since cotton rope is pretty hardy, it's easy to wash. The can withstand a washing machine well so long as you wash them on cold, keep them in a dedicates bag, and drip drying them out of direct sunlight (The UV can damage the rope and bleach out the color). Make sure to either tie the ends or whip them before washing because the rope will unravel.

When we first tried this rope I had just received Midori's book on Japanese Bondage. We tried the open leg crab position first, but I had so much trouble with the knots that my sub had to help me figure it out. Sometimes she was better at tying knots with one hand literally tied behind her back than I was. Fortunately, my initial failure with rope was enough to light a fire under me and now my rope skills have increased ten fold. Don't worry if rope bondage is difficult at first, a little practice goes a long way. Part of the allure of rope is that it takes discipline to master them.

Although Midori's book is one of my favorites, I'd start with one of the Two Knotty Boys books first since they have much better pictures. Instructional dvds like the ones by Twisted Monk and online are extremely helpful if you can't make it to a class, but learning how to play with ropes with real live teachers is always best.

I was really surprised at how beautiful this rope looks. My sub looked absolutely gorgeous in it. After tying her up in it successfully for the first time I spent a good 30 minutes just admiring her. Once you get used to working with rope, it becomes extremely intimate. Before we bought this rope, rope play had an occasional thing for us. For the most part our ropes just stayed in the closet. Since buying Doc Johnson's Japanese bondage rope, however, we now use it in most of our scenes and we've thrown over a dozen rope-centered parties.