Why do Japanese measure room size in "mats" ?

Question

Explain to me please. I was looking at apartments in Japan, and they say "6 mat" room or "7 mat" room, what does it mean? Thanks.

Answer 1

Japan is tatami mat house country, not flooring house  country because of its own culture.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatami

As the picture on right side shown, 6mat room called Roku-jyoo means the room which has 6 mats in and 4 and 1/2 mat room called Yojyoo-han means the room which has 4 mats and a half in.

One mat size is 90cm by 180cm mostly all over Japan in standard(some area may have exception).

A 6 mat room means 270cm by 360cm rectangular 3 on 3 mats without strage/utility space. A 3 mat room means180cm by 270cm also rectangular 1 on 2mats. A 7 mat room is not pupular because the size is quite unusual but some wooden floor may be added for making rectangular or square size in one room.

Answer 2

It's because all Japanese people can easily imagine how large the room is with that...

Japanese people are used to tatami mats so they say this room is 6 mats room(6 jou-ma,6畳間) large and that is 8 mats room,even if there's no tatami in the room.

They also measure land size with a unit "tsubo" (坪) that is the same size with two tatami mats,3.3 m2.

Answer 3

It refers to tatami mats, which are woven straw mats used as flooring.  They come in a standard size and arrangement, so it is easy for Japanese to imagine the size of the room based on how many tatami mats it has.  Usually "Japanese rooms" 「和室」 come with tatami, and "Western rooms" 「洋室」 come with hardwood or tile.  Even if the room has hardwood or tile floors, its size can be measured by how many tatami mats it would take to cover the area.

A six mat room is a pretty standard size small apartment room, suitable for 2-3 people to sleep in.  Most people don't sleep on bare tatami mats though.  Ashley D is thinking of futon (the folding mattresses which you lay out on top of the tatami mats for sleeping).  But rooms are measured in tatami mat size, not futon size.

Answer 4

Traditionally, the rooms of houses were covered in "tatami" which is some plant woven together to make a carpet and it has a standard size, so it's easier to imagine the size of the apartments in those mat sizes.