What are Tatami Mats?
Tatami mats are woven straw mats closely associated with Japanese culture, where they have been an enduring feature for centuries. The densely woven mats are traditionally used as a floor covering, and a number of traditions surround their use. The classic size of a tatami mat is three by six feet (one by two meters), although a wide assortment of shapes and sizes are available in addition to custom mats. This standard size is often used as a room measurement, much as square footage is used in many parts of the West. Thus, one may hear a room described as “four and a half mats.” Many Japanese import stores stock tatami mats, and they can also be ordered directly. The early roots of tatami mats were probably simple rushes strewn on the floors of rooms to keep them more dry and clean. Gradually, rushes were replaced with woven mats, which evolved an inner layer of stuffing such as straw or rice bran. Tatami mats are traditionally edged in fabric such as brocade to keep the layers togethe
Tatami mats are traditional Japanese floor mats made from tightly woven rice straw and despite many other flooring options available in Japan they are still widely used and highly valued. Given below is a brief history of the mats, their health benefits and the reasons they are such a good choice for both the home environment and also the environment as a whole. Tatami form an integral part of Japanese culture and design and, even in modern day apartments in Tokyo, rooms are designed according to the size of tatami mats. For a country whose history is so entwined with rice it seems almost inevitable that the vast amount of rice straw produced as a by-product of rice farming would be put to good use and around a thousand years ago mats were being used to cushion hard flooring. These then evolved into a more substantial mat that has become a fundamental element of all Japanese interiors.
