Long time ago, Igusa wasn’t the material of Tatami?
For more than 1000 years, Japanese people have used Tatami in their daily lives.
We can see the reference to “Tatami” even in “Kojiki”, The oldest Japanese history book, written in 712.
Was Tatami used in those days the same as what we use today?
According to the description of “Kojiki”, it seems that it was little different from modern Tatami.
In “Kojiki”, there are words such as
“Kawa-Datami”
,”Ashiginu-Datami”
and “Suga-Datami”.
“Kawa-Datami” should refer to the carpet made of animal skin.
“Ashiginu-Datami” should be the carpet made of silk clothes.
“Suga-Datami”is believed to be the carpet made of plant such as thatch.
It is said that the word
“Tatami”
used to refer to carpet in general.
They overlaid carpets and used it as chair or bed.
The origin of the word
“Tatami”
is said to be the act of folding (Tatamu).
It evolved and has become “Tatami” with thick rice straw filling and Igusa carpet.
Also, there are Tatami with Japanese paper and not Igusa so that it matches more to modern lifestyle.
It tolerates stain or scratch and there is no worry for pest.
Tatami evolves with time.
