For three generations, the Morita family has been wrapping, stitching and trimming modular blocks of woven grass, known as tatami, in Tokyo's old downtown. But now, beset by cheap knockoffs and ...

Not long ago, tatami (thick mats made of a core of rice straw and a covering of woven soft-rush, called igusa) were the flooring material of choice for any room except the kitchen in a Japanese house.

Tatami mats are a unique aspect of Japanese culture. Made of woven straw, filled with a soft material (traditionally rice straw, but nowadays foam), and bordered with beautifully-patterned cloth, ...

KYOTO--With demand for tatami plunging in Japan, a specialized trading firm here is eyeing a potential market of 2 billion people for the traditional mats. The company is selling tatami mats that ...

Japanese tatami mats have been moved from off of the floor and onto the furniture in this collection by French designer José Lévy (+ slideshow). Created for Japanese manufacturer Daiken, the Moving ...

As one of the oldest traditional features of Japanese homes today, tatami date back to at least the Nara Period (710-794), with their first written mention being in the “Kojiki” (The Record of Ancient ...

When we were thinking of buying a condominium, we visited several old danchi — apartments built by Japan's former public housing corporation — because they were cheap and, we thought, easy to renovate ...