Tatam-mat is the one of the Japanese tradition which is normally seen when people visit izakaya and Japanese restaurants.
Tatami-mat is always on the floor of Japanese house. The tatami-mat is made of the core of woods and rushes. Craft-man wraps the wood base with matting dried rushes.
Tatami-mat is Japanese culture and unique product around the world.
So we introduce about the manners for unique tatami-mat to tourists.
An uncommon manner is the edge of tatami-mat.
It is that you cannot step and walk on the edge of the tatami mats on the edge of the tatami-mat. It isn’t only because that the slight bump on the edge can make a tripping hazard.
At the edge of the old tatami-mat, there used to be patterns of family crests. It’s not common now to have family crests on the edge of tatami-mat but the manner came from the common sense that it is rude for ancestors to step on their symbol such as family crests.
It is also global standard that to walk on someone’s worth is the worst behavior.
Please be careful when you are on tatami-mat.
Don’t step on the ･･･