How to make tatami...

[Kintaro]

I was wondering about this because I was thinking of my next move,m I'd like to have at least one tatami room. Problem is, the only things I see under "tatami" in the web are Roll-up mats or ultra-expensive aikido mats (check for Zebra mats etc... if you want an idea, was it 180 CDN or 180 US !? each x_X)

Not that "I'd" say no to the latter since I have done a year of aikido and will restart fairly soon... but my wallet would say no fairly quickly.

I tried google and eBay, but I came up dry on actual tatamis, good DIY guides, etc...

Are tatamis a thing in the world where the only way you can get some is by having someone hand them down to you from x-generation ? If so, I'm screwed, as a) a Canadian, b) few/no family.

[TwistedMac]

tatamis could never be handed down.. they're so flimsy they brake pretty quick (couple of years i guess...) and the japanese have to get them changed now and then... that's why you don't walk in with your shoes i believe :o

i sw this show about tatamis, and from what i saw i'd say making them yourself would be out of the question >_< looked really complicated.. i'd go with the aikido one if i were you...

[Kintaro]

1.6 by 0.8m .... even in this room, which is really small for Canadian standards (and my only living space , since I rent a room) is 13 tatami large. those zebra mats cost 180 a piece.... i don't want to buy 2500 dollars for flooring x_X that would be suicide.

Maybe I should tour dojos trhat are operational and if they fail, buy them off them. But that would be sadistic... "hi, honorable sensei, is your art crumbling ?"... I'm not willing to go that far to satisfy my desires... yet.

EDIT : 105 from Zebramats in US currency x_X.

95 if you can order 20 o_O

[Mike Cash]

Tatami are thick, heavy, and made by machine. Never mind the derivation of the name, modern tatami do not fold up.

Also, given their price and the difficulty you would have in getting/replacing them, I don't think you'd want to subject them to the wear, tear, and soiling that would go with practicing martial arts on them. Anyway, they are rather slick along the grain and you'd be more likely to lose your footing unexpectedly. In Japan (and elsewhere, I suppose), one can purchase special tatami for that purpose. They are covered over with a slip-resistant rubber or plastic coating, but they still have the texture of traditional tatami.

[Ewok85]

The ones you're using for judo wouldnt be real tatami, it would be the imatation ones.

13 mats!?! Thats a big room! :D

[Kintaro]

It's my ONLY living space though, shared toilets/showers, etc... Subtract 2 for by bed, 1 for my comp table, one for my clothes drawer, one for the minifridge/sink/oven ... 8 for garbage , and i have zero space left, my bike sits on garbage when I don't use it.

Remember that I measure 2.01m and from wall to wall it's less than 2 "wingspans" either way.

[TwistedMac]

buy one, put it in a corner and impress your friends with your "meditationspace"

[Mike Cash]

my bike sits on garbage when I don't use it.



Scratching my head trying to figure out what on earth you would use garbage for.....

[Timsan]

hahahaha yeah










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[Gackt_Camui]

I was wondering about this because I was thinking of my next move,m I'd like to have at least one tatami room. Problem is, the only things I see under "tatami" in the web are Roll-up mats or ultra-expensive aikido mats (check for Zebra mats etc... if you want an idea, was it 180 CDN or 180 US !? each x_X)

Not that "I'd" say no to the latter since I have done a year of aikido and will restart fairly soon... but my wallet would say no fairly quickly.

I tried google and eBay, but I came up dry on actual tatamis, good DIY guides, etc...

Are tatamis a thing in the world where the only way you can get some is by having someone hand them down to you from x-generation ? If so, I'm screwed, as a) a Canadian, b) few/no family.



why make them when you can buy them :souka:

[Ewok85]

Theres alot of satisfaction in making things.

[splice]

I don't think trying to make tatami is such a good idea. Saw a show a while back (Soko ga Shiritai) where they visited the last person who does handmade tatami in Japan. Very old woman, very hard work. She did a room for the Emperor and everything.

So, considering even Japanese don't do tatami by hand anymore, I doubt you'll have options other than buying machine-made ones, or perhaps the martial arts simili-tatami. Yes, it's expensive. 13 mats, whether or not it feels small to you, is a big room in Japan. It follows that it'd be expensive flooring it with tatami.

[iwao]

there is only one person left who makes tatami by hand?
maybe for the emperor
I have been to Japan for several times and saw 2 manufactures in Tokyo!
really hard work, that's why I am surprised that there is only one very old woman ...

[Ewok85]

In the same sense people dont make alot of things by hand nowadays, it mainly made with machines.