For three generations, the Morita family has been wrapping, stitching and trimming modular blocks of woven grass, known as tatami, in Tokyo's old downtown. But now, beset by cheap knockoffs and ...

The tatami room, better known as 和室 (washitsu, “Japanese-style room”), is a space that features tatami mats as its main flooring element. Tatami mats are made from woven straw with a rice straw core ...

If you imagine a Japanese room, chances are you think of something like the picture above: a simply furnished room with sliding "shoji" doors, a "tokonoma" with a hanging scroll, and a tatami mat ...

A fifth-generation tatami craftsman near Nagoya, Japan is bucking tradition. Tatami, or a woven straw grass mat, is a symbol of Japan’s storied past. Usually laid down in square or rectangle patterns ...