Hi,
Checked out website for Sukeroku No Yado Sadachiyo in Asakusa. Has anyone on the board actually stayed there or at Ryokan Shigetsu? Also rooms were described as "10.5 or 12 tatami-mats or Kura room". Can anyone explain to me what that means?
Thanks!

Japanese rooms are measured by how many tatami mats there are. If you look at the pictures, you'll see that there are dark dividing lines in the floor...they are the edges of the individual tatami that make up the floor. 10.5 mats means just that...10.5 mats. One mat is about the size a small person would require to lie down - a rectangle made up of about 2 square meters. Different areas in Japan traditionally have slightly different sized mats...but the difference isn't so great that you'll notice it unless you try to fit the wrong sized mat into the room.

The size of one tatami is 75 x 60 x 1.5cm . It's a mat made by dry hay, a traditional jajanese room style. When you check the hotel, you should find out it's japanese style or western style. Japanese style is without bed. You will sleep on the tatami with futon.

Traditional tatami mats are by no means as square as what yt described. KimJapan is correct and they are rectangular. If a room is decribed as "10.5 tatami" then, 0.5 is one half of a whole mat cut in two.

Take a look at the following site. It shows how (traditional) tatami's sizes differ according to the regions in Japan. The page is in Japanese but you can read the numbers in centi meters. The biggest tatami is from Kyoto area (longer than 190cm? suprising), then Nagoya area, the 3rd is Tokoyo. The smallest is for modern (= small) apartments. Also they (always traditional ones) are usually thicker than 1,5 cm. What I remember was about 3-5 centimeters.


tatami.http://www.e-sumaisagashi.com/new_page_30.htm

The correct URL.

http://www.e-sumaisagashi.com/new_page_30.htm

And Kappa is correct and gives a very good description of Japanese tatami. I've never seenn mats of the size and shape yt mentions, nor are they made from hay.

You should always remove your shoes in Japanese homes and ryokan no matter what the flooring, and remove your slippers as well before entering tatami rooms.