Riffing on tatami

HERE’S GOOD NEWS for fans of traditional Japanese home furnishings: science has proven that tatami mats have medicinal benefits.

A research team at the University of Kitakyushu discovered that the rushes used for the surface of tatami mats have an antibacterial effect inhibiting the reproduction of both Trichophyton rubrum, the little buggers that cause athlete’s foot, and the microorganisms that make your feet stink.

The rushes permit the absorption of excess moisture in the air spaces in the mats. That inhibits the reproduction of the bacteria, which thrive in high-temperature, high-moisture environments. The researchers said that a barefoot lifestyle in rooms with tatami mats prevented the occurrence of athlete’s foot.

The researchers also reminded us that daily foot washing was required to achieve this result, lest anyone misunderstand the implications of their findings.

The experiments clearly demonstrated the effectiveness of the rush. The researchers used two cultures for their trials in the lab: One contained no rushes, and one in which the rush content was 5%. They put two strains of the athlete’s foot bacteria in each one, raised the temperature to a balmy 30°C (86°F), and let them make whoopee and reproduce for five days.

At the end of the five-day period, there was no bacteria reproduction in the culture with the rushes, while the control culture was swarming with baby microorganisms.

That should be good news for the Kyoto-based Japan Tatami Industry Promotion Association, which is trying to reverse the trend of declining tatami production and use, according to this Kyodo article.

Entire homes were furnished with tatami mats in Japan by the Muromachi Period (1333-1568), but the article reports the number of tatami stores nationwide has fallen by nearly half over the past decade to 12,000. Farm households growing rush for tatami in Kumamoto, which once accounted for 90 percent of domestic production, has slid from 10,000 in 1975 to 800 last year. This is partly due to the growing import of cheaper rush from China.

To offset this downturn, the association formed a team to devise new uses for tatami. So far, they’ve come up with a tatami necktie, a tatami toilet seat cover, a tatami guitar, and tatami car seats, as you can see from the second photo. Yes, that’s a tatami apron the young lady is wearing.

Other companies in the industry have come up with new ideas of their own. These include a new tatami rental conference room in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, and square tatami mats for condo residents, which are selling quite well. (The traditional tatami mat is rectangular.)

Meanwhile, the TTN Corp. in Hyogo has boosted sales by accepting orders for the mats round the clock. These orders are placed by hotels and traditional drinking establishments that just have to have new tatami mats in the middle of the night. Who knew?

Discovering new uses for tatami is also an international phenomenon. Famed German sandal company Birkenstock, which was established in 1774, is now offering a new line of tatami sandals and shoes worldwide:

Tatami shoes and sandals are the ultimate evolution of footwear comfort. Perfect for demure style and awesome for surf and sport action, Tatami has revolutionised the sandal market.

For those of you still harboring doubts of tatami’s wonderfulness, here is the clincher. This is the website of the Japan Tatami Industry Promotion Association, which, alas, is only in Japanese.

But Japanese isn’t required to enjoy the Tatami Bizu song! At the top of the page is a photo of two young ladies dressed as maids standing in a large tatami room with several children. At the bottom of the photo is a yellowish-green bar. Click on the bar to see and hear the video of them singing and dancing to the song, backed up by the Tatami Bizu band.

The lyrics are thoughtfully provided for anyone who wants to sing along!

If that doesn’t put you in a tatami state of mind, then you’ll probably spend the rest of your life getting athlete’s foot and rug burns from synthetic carpeting!

Disclaimer: The first time I stretched out to relax on a tatami floor, it took me about 10 minutes to realize that I wanted to live in a dwelling with tatami rooms forever. It’s better than lying on a sofa or on a carpet that people walk on wearing shoes. And lying on a futon on top of a tatami is the best of all.

And if you missed it the first time, try this recent post on the farmers in Okinawa who grow the rushes.