Float on a Floor of Tatami Mats

“All the day long-

  Yet not long enough for the skylark,

  Singing, singing.  "

                           ~ Bashō Matsuo

As opposed to having a cheap, unnatural particle board core, faithful Tatami mats have a rice straw interior and a rush grass exterior, forming a true and traditional marriage in the Japanese spirit. It takes more time to manufacture a mat layered with straw that comes from rice, but the end result is more durable over the course of time.   

In addition to these assets, Tatami mats are also warm to the touch of bare feet, and although they’re firm, they’re not too hard, which makes them akin to a sprung-wood dance-floor, providing flexible support to the spinal column as well as every joint in the body. Mats made with these natural materials also have the added benefit of not producing any toxic off-gassing like carpets made from chemicals and synthetic fibers, which can off-gas for a long period of time, causing allergic reactions and negative medical conditions for many people, especially those individuals with keen sensitivities, such as vulnerable children and elderly adults.

TATAMI MATS ARE THE TRADITIONAL JAPANESE FLOOR/SLEEPING/EVERYTHING MAT

Haiku Designs is very selective about the Tatami Mats they offer, and the ones they emphasize are referred to as “Kaiteki” mats, which are both strong and pleasing to the eyes. This type of mat is ideal for foyers, dining-rooms, yoga studios, game-rooms, or any room/space that gets heavy traffic. Translated into English from Japanese, Kaiteki means comfort, and yet these mats also provide great support for the body as a whole.

Made in Taiwan for mostly Japanese customers, the Kaiteki mats are comprised of all natural materials, as they were a thousand years ago, defying the infantile practice of using toxic materials that didn’t even exist 150 years ago. To drive the natural and truly traditional point home, the rush grass straw acts as a tenacious barrier, earning the Kaiteki mat the coveted "Best Grade #1" rating, which simply means that it has very little or no visible flaws in the pattern of the straw. As a significant footnote, the mat is then fortified with muscular clothe around the perimeter or edges to prevent it from getting warped in any way

Also available from Haiku is our high quality Japanese Furniture and Japanese Beds - let Haiku Designs help you create Zen & Harmony in Your Home.

Please contact us anytime by telephone on weekdays or email on weekends for more information about Tatami mats or other alternative, eco-friendly products. We also have periodic sales and discounts so keep an eye out for those ongoing opportunities.

Source URL: https://www.haikudesigns.com/blog/float-on-tatami-mats.htm

The Ingenious Design of the Raku Japanese Platform Bed

“A snowy morning--

    By myself,

    Chewing on dried salmon.

                               ~ Bashō Matsuo

The Japanese, the word Raku means “comfort, ease, or relief” in English, and another translation compares it to the word “pleasure”. What’s so amazing about the design of the Raku bed-frame is the easy yet exquisite locking mechanism that joins the rails and the feet together.     

 This design does not rely on nuts and bolts or unnatural materials. Its assembly relies on a simple, sophisticated, puzzle-like design that’s very sturdy. The assembly of the frame is better executed by two people, but if you have the time and the patience to line up all the parts with a 10% margin of error, you can save yourself some money and increase your self-satisfaction. By the time you’re done, you’ll have a bed-frame that won’t fall apart unless a nuclear bomb falls on your house.

SUPPORT YOURSELF THE NATURAL (AND COMFORTABLE) WAY

Pretend that you’re a mattress for 10 seconds . . . and forget about the fact that texting is radically changing the laws of grammar and punctuation. Anyway, mattresses need firm support and conventionally that comes in the form of a dangerous weapon called a box-spring. In response to this assault on Nature, more people these days are using natural wooden slats for bodily support. However, when it comes to installation, slats are a bit inconvenient, since they consist of a series of thin, narrow planks connected by clothe, which makes them annoyingly unwieldly. So, another natural, eco-friendly alternative is Tatami mats, which have a long and honorable history in Japan. Defined by a questionable and scary Google search, the word tatami is defined as a “three foot by six foot (91 cm by 183 cm) floor mat woven of rice straw, used traditionally in Japanese homes” and other homes around the world.

To complete this blog’s proposal of a triad marriage, we need to choose a mattress to sleep on, which may be the most important decision when it comes to one’s orthopedic health and one’s overall health. As a guide, we might consider the fact that the word orthopedic is defined as “relating to the branch of medicine dealing with the correction of deformities of bones or muscles”. As a response to this, we might consider a latex mattress, which is a great topic for another blog, but for now, just visit this link for a more in-depth exploration of latex as a substance for a mattress alternative

In the meantime, please contact us anytime by telephone on weekdays or email on weekends for more information about Tatami mats or other alternative, eco-friendly products. We also have periodic sales and discounts, so keep an eye out for those ongoing opportunities.

Source URL: https://www.haikudesigns.com/blog/raku-ingenuity.htm