A shimenawa is hand twisted from rice straw, left twisted and typically thicker at the center tapering toward the ends, with shide paper streamers hung along its length, and because rice straw is a byproduct of the harvest, making a new shimenawa has historically followed the agricultural calendar, tying the object directly to Shinto's deep roots in rice cultivation.
Ordinary work, and famous exceptions
Most shimenawa are made by shrine parishioners or local craftsmen at a scale any community can manage, but a small number of shrines maintain genuinely enormous examples, the shimenawa at Izumo Taisha being the best known, so large that replacing it is organized as a dedicated community event involving a trained team rather than a routine task any single person could complete.
Replacement rather than repair
A shimenawa is renewed periodically, commonly around the New Year, as the straw weathers and degrades, and the old rope is taken down and disposed of respectfully, sometimes burned along with other retired shrine materials, rather than simply thrown away as ordinary agricultural waste once its ritual use has ended.
Size as a signal of a shrine's standing
The scale of a shrine's shimenawa is itself read as a signal of the shrine's importance and resources, a small neighborhood shrine manages a modest rope well within local means, while a handful of major shrines maintain the enormous versions specifically because doing so publicly demonstrates the devotion and organization of the community behind them.