The Japanese character of Tatami (above) means " what is folded and piled up ".

The tatami is a typically Japanese object, without Chinese or Korean influence. It is a relatively firm mattress which paped the floors or the traditional houses and measuring roughly 180 cmx90cm; one finds it still today in the Japanese houses (at least one room is in tatami), although it is there currently more and more of houses of western style. Those are individual carpets of size and uniform colour, that one can find embroided of gibes for most traditional or more simply black fabric material.

The tatami is manufactured from snap ring, the igusa, and of rice straw. It is with these plants one will weave to obtain the traditional tatami one knows. It is the choice of the starting plants which will determine the various colours and the various qualities of the tatami.

The manufacturer of tatamis collects the rice straw, but will weave them afterwards one year. It twists the rice straw in beams of 2 cm of diameter, lays out them in layers by of interweave : 7 layers of rice straw can be assembled together then compresses to reach a thickness of 6 cm on an average surface of 180 cm length by 90 cm of width.

Finally, the "body" of the tatami is packed either in a fabric or in a rush mat woven, the igusa, which gives a hard and brilliant surface on the side exposed of the tatami. One finishes by bordering it over the two lengths by broad fabric bands of approximately 3 cm.
For the tatamis concerning the dojos and the martial arts, the composition is different; it is today generally out of agglomerated foam.

The tatamis are very appreciated for their qualities of cleansing : they absorb too moisture, or control it. The room is moderated and remains quite ventilated, with the slightly scented odor of the tatamis. Moreover, they prevent the development of parasites and insects.

Tha tatamis adapt very well to the architecture of the Japanese traditional houses out of wooden and to the Japanese climate, because they protect the grounds, insulate them and they did not rot.

Today still, it is necessary imperatively to take off one's shoes before come in someone's house, even if the traditional tatamis were replaced by modern coatings.

The tatami, although less present in Japanese habitat, does not remain about it less one measuring unit of reference.
Instead of counting in cubic meter the surface of an apartment, one counts in tatami : "my bedroom makes 8 tatamis", approximately 8 tatamis can enter this room. To give an order of idea, 6 tatamis represent a surface of 10 m². But the details of the dimensions can vary from one area to another.

There are rules of provision of the tatami : the number and the diagram of the tatamis in a room are very important because a bad provision would be of bad ominous.
The lines of the tatamis should not with right angle, and there are never places where the corners of 3 or 4 tatamis are cut.