Tatami Mat: Japanese Style Floor Mat

The room in the above picture is a traditional Japanese style room, and the mats placed on the floor are Japanese style floor mats called "tatami" mats.

A tatami mat is mostly made of straws and is superior in air through, humidity adjustment, air cleaning, and elasticity.

There are some rules about how to place tatami mats on the floor, and the below shows some of the rules.

Rules to place tatami mats

Please note that in the very left one a tatami mat is cut in a half to fit into a square room.

Japanese usually use the number of tatami mats to indicate the size of the room, even though the room is not a Japanese room and is not using tatami mats.

Mats used in the floor of Judo match are also tatami mats, although they are toughened for the bruising match.

Tatami mats in a Judo hall

    

As the life of Japanese people and their rooms become more westernized, the number of Japanese rooms using tatami mats is being reduced.  This might be because more Japanese people feel more relaxed by sitting on a chair rather than on a tatami floor.

Tatami life

The other possible major reason why many Japanese are moving away from a tatami life would be because a tatami mat requires maintenance maybe every 3 to 5 years as the surface of tatami mat wears out, or tatami mat gets moldy.

However, there is a certain trend to arrange a tatami mat to more fashionable one, so that it fits to a modern room.

Tatami mat might survive that way.

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