TATAMI

Tatami Mat...

The Japanese Tatami which you might say is the equivalent to our tikar mengkuang is something that has been long existing in Japan, and never will go. The difference between the tatami and our tikar mengkuang is that the tatami mat is integrated into the japanese house flooring while the tikar mengkuang only covers our floors. Both modern and traditional japanese homes would have at least one room with tatami flooring. I even saw on the news how the japanese used the tatami as flooring to a cage used to airlift a few cows by helicopter during the Nigata-ken earth quakes 2 years ago.Thats how much they value their heritage.

I had to take out the carpet to get this picture...

It was worth it, kalau tak bila lagi nak ambil gambar kenang-kenangan tatami ni...

This is one of the rooms with tatami flooring in our apartment. Its a 6 Jo sized room. 1 Jo is 1 approximately 85cm X 170cm. Our apartment is a three bedroom apartment where 2 of the rooms have 6 Jo tatami flooring each. When we first came in, the smell of apartment was dominated by the smell of new tatami flooring. It smells sort of like sweet dried straw. The smell lasted for about 3 month. When we move out, the landlord would install new ones for the future tennants.

tatami borders...

Each piece of tatami is laced with a beautiful green cloth border. Its decorated by geometrical shapes. Sleeping on a thin mattress laid on tatami is quite comfortable. When we 1st moved in, the whole familfy slept infront of the tv set in the living room. We laid our mattreses there on the wooden floor. My back ached but since we started sleeping in the tatami room, my back pain eased a little.

1 Jo=85cm X170xm

tatami close-up

However, this winter, the back pain is back again, so I guess tatami has no medicinal values after all... heheheh... One thing I admire about orang-orang Jepun, no matter how modern and advanced they are, they still keep their language, heritage and lifestyle as Japanese as possible.

Takkan tatami hilang di bumi...
'Hang Izhal'