Takata Orimono — Japan’s No. 1 producer of tatami edging! A company that continues to take on new challenges and expand the possibilities of tatami edging.

Do you know about tatami-beri (tatami edging)?

Tatami-beri is the fabric attached to the edges on both sides of a tatami mat.

In Kurashiki City, there is a company that produces more tatami-beri than any other company in Japan.
That company is Takata Orimono Co., Ltd., founded in 1892.

While supporting tatami, a traditional Japanese building material, the company continues to take on new challenges and is attracting increasing attention.

We visited Takata Orimono, which is forging a path where none existed before.

What Is Tatami-beri?

Tatami-beri is the woven fabric attached to both ends of a tatami mat.

Tatami-beri serves three main functional purposes.

The first is to hold the components of the tatami mat together.

A tatami mat is made by covering the “tatami-doko,” its core, which is made from rice straw and other materials, with “tatami-omote,” woven rush grass, then sewing “tatami-beri” along the long sides.

The second is to prevent wear and provide protection.

As tatami mats are used, the corners of the tatami-omote begin to fray and wear down.
Tatami-beri helps prevent fraying.

Tatami mats with tatami-beri last longer than those without edging.

The third is to close the gaps between tatami mats.
When laying tatami mats in a room, the gaps can be finely adjusted and snugly closed, making it harder for dust to collect between them.

Tatami-beri does more than serve a functional purpose. It also plays an important decorative role in a room.

Changing the tatami-beri can dramatically change the atmosphere of a room.

The History of Tatami-beri

When did tatami-beri first appear?

From the Nara Period to the Present

The oldest surviving tatami mat is kept at Shosoin Repository in Nara.
It is believed that Emperor Shomu used it like a bed during the Nara period.
This tatami mat also has edging.

For a time, wide fabric was cut and attached to the edges of tatami mats.

Narrow-width woven fabric, like the kind used today, came into use toward the end of the Meiji period.
As tatami became more common, narrow-width tatami-beri began to be made specifically for tatami mats.

In the past, tatami-beri was made from cotton yarn. Today, it is woven from a combination of synthetic fibers such as polyethylene yarn and cotton yarn treated to give it a sheen.

Okayama and Tatami-beri

Tatami-beri production began in Okayama around 1921.
During the recovery from the Great Kanto Earthquake (1923), word spread that “tatami-beri from Okayama is high quality.”

Demand was also high during the postwar recovery in the Showa period, and tatami-beri from Okayama was used throughout Japan.

As of 2022, 80% of tatami-beri is produced in Okayama Prefecture.
Takata Orimono makes about half of that, giving it a 40% share of the national market.

Okayama was also Japan’s leading producer of rush grass, the raw material for tatami-omote, from the Meiji period through the early Showa period.

The writer assumed that tatami-beri production had flourished because rush grass cultivation was thriving, but apparently the two are unrelated.

In Kurashiki, a reclaimed area where the soil was too salty to grow rice easily, cotton and rush grass had been cultivated since the Edo period.
Cotton spinning developed, leading to tatami-beri production as one part of the textile industry.

As a result, Okayama seems to have become a production centre for both rush grass and tatami-beri by coincidence.

The History of Takata Orimono

Takata Orimono was founded as a textile company in 1892.
At first, it apparently made Sanada-himo cords and obi fabric used for kimono and tea ceremony utensils.

Around the transition from the Meiji to the Taisho period, people’s clothing styles changed, and demand for the products the company had been making began to decline.

In the early Showa period, with advice from local people, the company began manufacturing tatami-beri, a business that could make use of its textile equipment and raw materials.

In the latter half of the 1950s, Takata Orimono became the first in the industry to develop patterned tatami-beri.

Takata Orimono has worked to raise awareness of and expand the value of tatami-beri, opening its directly operated store, “FLAT,” in 2014.

Today, the company manufactures and sells around 1,000 types of tatami-beri.

We’ll take a closer look at the company’s many initiatives and its passion for tatami-beri in the interview later in the article.

FLAT, the Company’s Directly Operated Store

As of 2022, Takata Orimono operates the following two stores.

It’s a rare opportunity to see so many kinds of tatami-beri in one place.

FLAT has a colourful and diverse selection of tatami-beri!

When the writer first visited FLAT and saw tatami-beri in vivid colours and modern patterns, they were amazed: “I had no idea tatami-beri like this existed!”

There are also lots of small items made with tatami-beri, such as pouches, card holders, gift-money envelopes, and hair accessories.

You can also buy it as a material for handmade crafts.

It sounds fun to make small items to suit your own taste.

Sustainable Tatami, Rooted in Japan for Centuries

In recent years, tatami mats without tatami-beri, such as Ryukyu tatami, have become more common.

Edgeless tatami mats have a clean appearance, but apparently they wear more easily, are expensive, and often have a thin core that feels hard underfoot.
They also have a shorter lifespan.

Takata, the president of Takata Orimono Co., Ltd., says, “Traditionally, people in Japan have incorporated things from nature and built homes that breathe with the seasons.”

Traditional tatami mats, which have been used for more than 1,000 years, were made by weaving rush grass into tatami-omote and compressing straw to make the tatami-doko.

Tatami mats made by sewing the tatami-omote and tatami-doko together with tatami-beri can be easily taken apart by simply cutting the thread.

That means that when the tatami-omote wears out, it can be removed and turned over so the other side can be used too; once it has been fully used, the rush grass can be returned to the soil.

The tatami-doko, the core of the mat, can apparently be used for decades if repaired.
It is also possible to replace only the tatami-omote and tatami-beri in a process called “omotegae,” making even more effective use of resources.

However, many tatami mats without tatami-beri have the tatami-omote glued to the tatami-doko.
Because they cannot be taken apart, the entire mat must be discarded once the surface of the tatami-omote wears out.

Tatami mats with edging, whose components are sewn together, can be considered environmentally friendly building materials that make effective use of resources.

The writer feels it is wasteful to throw away limited resources when they could still be used.

What has inspired the company to make tatami-beri from its founding in 1892 to the present day?

We spoke with Takata Naoshi, president of Takata Orimono Co., Ltd.

Takata Orimono Co., Ltd. Information

Organization	Takata Orimono Co., Ltd.
Industry	Tatami-beri manufacturing
Representative	Takata Naoshi
Year established	1950
Address	2-2-53 Karakoto, Kojima, Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture
Contact	086-477-7162
Website	Takata Orimono Co., Ltd.

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