A Back Was Also Improvised, But This Was Formed Of
Frames With Panes Of Translucent Paper, Like Our Tissue Paper, With
Sundry Holes And Rents.
This being done, I found myself the
possessor of a room about sixteen feet square, without hook, shelf,
rail, or anything on which to put anything - nothing, in short, but
a matted floor.
Do not be misled by the use of this word matting.
Japanese house-mats, tatami, are as neat, refined, and soft a
covering for the floor as the finest Axminster carpet. They are 5
feet 9 inches long, 3 feet broad, and 2.5 inches thick. The frame
is solidly made of coarse straw, and this is covered with very fine
woven matting, as nearly white as possible, and each mat is usually
bound with dark blue cloth. Temples and rooms are measured by the
number of mats they contain, and rooms must be built for the mats,
as they are never cut to the rooms. They are always level with the
polished grooves or ledges which surround the floor. They are soft
and elastic, and the finer qualities are very beautiful. They are
as expensive as the best Brussels carpet, and the Japanese take
great pride in them, and are much aggrieved by the way in which
some thoughtless foreigners stamp over them with dirty boots.
Unfortunately they harbour myriads of fleas.
Outside my room an open balcony with many similiar rooms ran round
a forlorn aggregate of dilapidated shingle roofs and water-butts.
These rooms were all full.
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