Many
of the homes in Japan still have a tatami room. Though the
rooms
vary in size and furnishings, all of them have one thing
in common. They all use the traditional rice straw floormats,
which are about
two inches thick, called tatami mats. Tatami
omote is the thin outer covering, made of a soft
rush material, that is sewn onto the thick rice straw base
of the tatami mat.
When
the
cover
wears
out it is replaced with new tatami omote. Tatami
omote is divided by quality into four grades. The highest
grade
is tokutokujo, next is tokujo, then jo, and lastly the
nami grade. The tokutokujo mats are most frequently used
in shrines, temples,
government buildings, and homes of the very wealthy. The
tokujo and jo grade mats are the ones most commonly found
in everyday
use.
The
used tatami omote has become the target of choice for tameshigiri
in Japan, and
the United States. Tatami
omote is not made of rice straw as many people think.
It
is made from the stems of a soft rush (juncus effusus)
that grows in wetland areas. The stems are collected,
cleaned, dried, and
tightly woven to make a thin, soft mat. The choice of this
traditional material over other materials to make targets
for tameshigiri
offers an important benefit. Mats made from other, more
coarse materials, can scratch the polish on a sword or
dull the cutting
edge. The ground-in dirt that is found in used mats can
also act as a fine abrasive when cutting. Mugen Dachi
mats are brand new,
have never been used, and do not pose an increased risk
for scratching your sword.
Most people who have done tameshigiri with rolled tatami omote
have probably used the worn out pieces of the tokujo and
jo grades.
One problem with the used tatami is that you never know what
grade of mat you will get, or whether or not you will
get mats that
are lightly used or ones that are almost worn through. The
bigger problem with used tatami is the leftover grit which
can scratch
your sword or dull the edge. The tatami omote we
provide is the nami grade. The quality of the new nami
mats we
offer
is
very
similar
in cutting
density to the majority of the lightly worn used mats we have
practiced with over the years. One big advantage in using
our
tatami omote is that the targets will consistently cut the
same, because the quality of the mats does not vary. The
mats are very
clean to work with when rolling targets and they soak up water
very quickly. Our nami grade mats provide an excellent
combination
of high quality, low cost, and good availability.
