Tatami

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A traditional washitsu with shoji (sliding walls) and tatami

Tatami ( Japanese 畳 , traditionally also 疊 , 疉 or 疂 ) is an insulating and dampening mat made of rice straw that is used in Japan as a floor in washitsu (traditionally designed rooms). At night, the futon is spread out on the tatami to serve as a place to sleep.

Due to their sensitive surface texture, tatami are only entered with socks or barefoot.

nature

Cross-section through a modern tatami with a foam core

Tatami consist of a firmly bound rice straw core on which a rush mat made of flutter rush ( Juncus effusus , Japanese Igusa ) lies, fixed by cotton ribbons sewn on the side.

Tatami production at the end of the 19th century.

New tatami have a greenish surface. As they get older, the colors change to yellow-brownish tones. Unless the mats are otherwise too worn, this aging is rated positively in Japan, because it testifies to the life and history of the tatami. Nowadays, different muted colors and fine weave patterns on the surface can be made by the craftsman.

A tatami is 5.5 cm thick, a ken ( 間 ) long and half a ken wide, with the length of a ken varying between 1.55 and 1.91 m depending on the region. Nowadays tatami are available in almost all sizes.

Common sizes are:

  • 85.0 cm × 170 cm (Tatami standard size for large residential and office buildings)
  • 88.0 cm × 176 cm (in Tokyo and Eastern Japan)
  • 91.0 cm × 182 cm (in northern Japan)
  • 95.5 cm × 191 cm (in Kyoto and Western Japan)

Area measure

Traditional tatami arrangement of different room sizes

Tatami are also used as a measure of area for specifying apartment and room sizes (the sign for tatami is pronounced in Sino-Japanese jō in this meaning ). One jō corresponds to about 1.64 m², the exact size also depends on the region.

The Japanese standard room is six jō in size (approx. 10 m²) and therefore traditionally covered with six tatami mats, tea rooms are 4.5 jō in size.

Tatami in martial arts

Modern green and red 1 m² tatami (demonstration of a judo throw )

Many Japanese martial arts (e.g. Jiu Jitsu , Judo etc.) are practiced on tatamis. Martial artists (Japanese Budoka ) use the relatively "soft" tatami to cushion fall techniques (Japanese Ukemi ) and throws (Japanese Nage Waza ).

TATAMI whispers ON AIR was the title of an audio podcast offer by the German Judo Association in 2007/2008.

Web links

Commons : Tatami  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Tatami  Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Igusa. Entry in the Khartasia database, University of Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne .
  2. ↑ Werner Lind : The Lexicon of Martial Arts. Sportverlag, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-328-00838-1 .
  3. ^ German Judo Association eV - TATAMI whispers ON AIR. Podcast.de, September 15, 2007 ( Memento from September 6, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ).