Satoshi, Tatami Weaver
“Take kitchen knives, for example. The more you beat it and use it, the better it cuts and the longer it lasts. In a similar fashion, I believe that we tatami craftspeople have grown stronger from being beaten down, and hence, I will always put forth my best effort.”
Elegantly refined and contemplatively minimalistic, the core of every Japanese washitsu room starts straight from the floor: tatami. Made of compressed, woven fibers and traditionally rectangular in shape, tatami mats adorn the structure of simple tea rooms, upscale ryokan inns, historic temples, and even many homes of modern Japanese citizens. Their serene ambiance and simplicity have made tatami beloved for centuries, especially ideal for tea ceremony, meditation, and study.
Yet, while deceptively simple in appearance, crafting tatami takes incredible skill and honed precision, with each mat requiring thousands of igusa rushes pressed tightly - and evenly - together. Once the igusa is in place, they are meticulously sown together and then, often, a brocade is added around the heri edge.
The tradition of hand sewing has moved from human hands and into machines: however, Satoshi-san prides himself in keeping alive the art of hand sewing tatami, as well as seeking new ways to bring tatami into the modern world by creating tatami-inspired inventions to share on the local and international stage.
Deeper Japan spoke with Satoshi-san to hear more about the evolving art of tatami making and his efforts to modernize the ancient yet perpetual use of the tatami.
Q: Can you tell us a little bit about the advantages and charms of tatami?
A: One of the advantages of tatami is that it’s suited for Japan's high temperature and humidity, as it absorbs moisture and expels it when the weather is nice. And perhaps the best thing about tatami is its fragrance, especially when it’s new. It’s said that studying in a place with the scent of tatami improves concentration by 30%, and so there are many cram schools that are now using tatami. Also, when the tatami gets old, the color becomes similar to that of people’s skin tone. It’s said that people feel at ease when they see something that has a color similar to their skin tone. In addition, like on a hot summer day, you feel compelled to lie down on the tatami and feel its cooling effects. Japanese people seem to be able to lie down and sleep anywhere, but people from overseas don't seem to do that.
This connects back to a product I have produced, “Yoga Datami,” which originally was a work called “Ohirune de Gozaaru.” I had initially proposed this as a product that you could roll up, take anywhere, and sleep on, but when I was talking to someone from abroad, they told me that people from overseas don't just sleep anywhere. So, although I really liked the name of the product, I changed it completely and renamed it to “Yoga Datami.” And, together with Saitama Prefecture, it was decided that this product was perfect to promote overseas. So far, it has a good reputation, as everyone here at home says it’s good, but not many people buy it. In other words, it hasn’t really spread overseas yet—this is just the beginning.
Q: Being a seasoned tatami craftsman, could you tell us about how you’re continuing your business, or in reverse, what got you into this field? For example, was your father a tatami craftsman so you followed in his footsteps, or was it something completely different?
A: Since I was a child, I had watched my parents’ work and thought to myself that one day I would do the same. It was a natural process. So of course, I entered the world of tatami crafting and in the course of training, I made friends, and in competing with them, I gradually honed my skills and improved. While I was in training, I would get beaten by my seniors. It was that sort of strict training lifestyle but because I lived through that, because I survived that, I knew that this was it, that this was my craft. And I resolved to not lose to a tatami craftsperson who just inherited their parent’s craft without the proper training.
Take kitchen knives, for example. The more you beat it and use it, the better it cuts and the longer it lasts. In a similar fashion, I believe that we tatami craftspeople have grown stronger from being beaten down, and hence, I will always put forth my best effort, even if there are no job requests. With a strong will, work is easy to come by. If you make your prices cheap, requests will come pouring in, but I don’t believe that’s right; it just becomes a game of cheap or cheaper and it’s no fun at all. That’s why, when I’m not busy, I’m resting and when I have requests, I do them. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that I make my prices very high. There is a set and promised price but there are some places that break down that price, so to speak, and want us to do it for cheaper.
Also, there are craftspeople who advertise their work on flyers for cheap but make the end result much more expensive. There are more places like that than you think. And so, like I said before, I don’t want to lose to places such as these. I want to provide the best products, and have the customers understand what I’m doing. And by doing this sort of experience, with meeting the customers directly, I hope that my thoughts can be conveyed more readily.
Q: Is there anything you’d like to tell guests when they come to experience your craft?
A: I simply want people to know about Japanese culture through tatami. That's it. As simple as that. There’s no other way but to have people understand the goodness of the product. And, instead of us trying to fit their needs, they have to adjust to fit what we provide. And that aside, I would like the guests to experience the craft, even if it means breaking down some parts, in order to create something of a souvenir or a gift they can take home.
But I definitely want to properly show them the hand sewing technique. If they just see the machines in the factory, it wouldn’t be any different from another factory tour; there are, of course, better and faster machines and if you compare these machines here to those at a big company, we couldn’t possibly even compete with them. But the hand sewing technique is something that big companies no longer have, and that is exactly our selling point.
Q: If you’d allow me to change the subject a little, this T-shirt that says “Usapii.” Is this something you made yourself?
A: This is an original T-shirt and as you can see here, it has my name, Satoshi, on it. I do sell them to people who want to buy them, but we don’t really advertise them. It’s been mostly just me telling people about it by word of mouth. Although, we did appear on satellite television, in a live broadcast on Chinese Central Television. I even put out the “Usapii” T-shirts out there, but there was no response at all. Since I can’t make the T-shirts myself, I’ve even considered going to Uniqlo to make them at the original T-shirt workshop, but I think it’s just difficult to find people who’d be interested in buying them.
The origin of the “Usapii” design is from when I had a gallery exhibition with an artist and a friend of the artist made earrings. And while we were brainstorming how to display the earrings as part of the exhibition, we thought, well, if you say earrings (piasu), you think of ears. And if a rabbit (usagi) were to wear earrings, they’d wear quite a few. And so, this mascot of “Usapii” came together on the spot, a combination of usagi and piasu. It was created rather suddenly. Similar to the “Ohirune de Gozaaru,” which was also thought of on the spot. And so, with things like this, I started participating in showings.
Q: You mentioned that you have a video on your Facebook page that shows your travel in Egypt. Do you travel around the world a lot?
A: Yes, I would like to travel more in the future, but so far, I've been to Egypt and the Great Wall of China, Taiwan, Guam, and the West Coast. Someone who I deeply respect, told me that the Great Wall of China and the Great Pyramids of Giza can be seen from outer space. And he told me that I should go and see these things that were built by human hands. So, essentially, I was told to go see the Great Wall and the Pyramids, because human beings are amazing. People often think that once they grow big, they should go one way or the other. But that’s not it. They should look at things from the big picture. And so, with this in mind, I went to see what I could learn from the Great Wall and the Pyramids.
When I actually saw them, it was amazing. Just amazing. Seeing the Great Wall of China, it was just crazy imagining how people had built this long structure. And you could tell that humans did build it. Like, it wasn’t like one stair at a time was uniform and perfect. The stairs were sometimes also wide… You have to go there to see it in person to understand. And in Egypt, you usually aren’t allowed to go inside the pyramids, but I was allowed to go inside and see how it was, as I was accompanying the JTB television crew. All in all, I’m glad I was able to experience so many things.
Always seeking of ways to spread the goodness of tatami to anyone and everyone, Satoshi-san enthusiastically welcomes all visitors to witness and experience the wonders of tatami-making.
Join Satoshi-san on a homely tour of his studio, learning about the history of tatami in Japan and of traditional tatami making techniques. Then, after a tour of the studio, learn how to sew a goza tatami mat, and then take a trip to the nearby Yoshimi Hundred Caves, depending on weather.
Read more, here.
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