Morning journal and courier., 1881-10-04
How The Japanese Cover Their Floor s.
 [From the Carnst Trade ReyiaM.l


 [From the Carpet Trade Review.l
 In Japan, however, the floors are universal ly hidden by the tatami, or bedded mats These are of regulation size throughout the empire, and in building 8 house the rooms are divided off so as to hold certain number of these units of floor measure. A tatami exactly five feet nine inches long, three feet wide, and two and one-half inches thick, or, in round numbers and Japanese measure, 6x3x2. The only difference between the mats that cover the imperial floor and those of the cottagers is that the former are larger in size and are covered with a gayer border. In ordinary houses this border is black or indigo blue. In the palace it is white Even the throne of that now defunct official, the tycoon, as well as the place of eminence of the mikado whom he initiated, was only sqqare, padded mat, few inches higher than common and edged with variegated colors. A Japanese floor being so substantially cover ed need be only of cheap, unplaned wood, laid without mortices. This floor is two and half inches below the grooved stills in which the doors, or rather partitions, slide. Hinges are used only on gates. Into this huge pan, so to speak, which the floor makes the mats are laid and fit snugly together, lying with their surface level with the sills or grooves. The mats are the household property of the tenants, as landlords rent the houses uncar- peted, as we do. In case of a fire, people pull up these expensive ornaments and run. A collection of tatami usually requires the first outlay of a Japanese couple toward housekeeping. Often these exquisitely clean and soft mats are the chief, if not the only articles of furniture in certain rooms. The Chinese for centuries have used chairs and lounges, but the Japanese eschew these luxu- ries, using the floor and it's covering for cere- mony and the occasions of eating, drinking and sleeping. The tatami serve for tables, bedsteads, chairs and lounging purposes In palace and in hut, alike guiltless of sitting machinery, has grown up that elaborate sys- tenn of etiquette and ceremonial, renowned over the world. Only by the generals in the field were folding camp chairs used. In the monastery the abbot sat in state, or for re- hection, in the arm chair. The Japanese have the word 'skoshi-kake" (back-rester) but there Is no general word nor equivalent for our simple word t'chair." Most of the obsequious and exaggerated politeness of these Oriental islanders may be thus mechani- caliy accounted for. If the superior is no higher than the floor the inferior must bow low indeed. To salute properly, indoors one must turn his head into temporary tack hammer and pound vigorously on the floor.
 These tatami last nearly lifetime. as they are trodden on not with boots but only with socks. Every traveller in Japan is charmed with these soft, clean, durable mats. Every gentleman, native or foreign removes his shoes, clogs or sandals before he imprints them. Stocking feet is the rule indoors, and the native socks are more thickly soled than ours. The custom of wearing boots is rapid ly driving the s'civilized'' natives to banish the tatami and lay down carpets. An English lady traveller recently speaks of these mats as being sssoft as Administer carpets ;'' though her statement that they ''as ex- pensive as Brussels carpet" is an exaggera- tion. There being by the last census, over 1000, 900 houses in Japan, and each house averaging, at a low computation, 30 tatamis, there are over PIC, 900, 900 of these mats, or, in area, 100000, 900 square yards They are the very emblems of silence and cleanliness, and fashion may some day demand that the tatami find place in our houses, churches and hospitals.