Thinking in Units. Tatami, Tanmono, and the True Size of Furoshiki
I like how Japan measures things. Metric is the official system, yet older units still show up in daily speech. Those units carry local practice. They often explain why objects look the way they do.
Tatami is a clear example. Many people outside Japan know the word, but fewer people know there is more than one standard. “Edo-ma” refers to the Tokyo area, which was once called Edo. “Kyo-ma” refers to Kyoto, the old capital. One reference explains Edo-ma as 176 cm by 88 cm, about 1.55 square meters. The same reference explains Kyo-ma as 191 cm by 95.5 cm, about 1.82 square meters. A room described as “six tatami” can feel different depending on the region. The word stays the same. The lived size shifts.
Textiles carry a similar logic. Kimono fabric begins as tanmono, a long bolt of cloth. One guide describes a typical bolt as about 36 cm wide and about 12 m long, expressed as 9 sun 5 bu in width and 3 jō in length. Width comes first. The garment takes shape from that fixed width. The unit becomes part of the design.
Furoshiki sits in the same family of ideas. People often describe furoshiki in centimeters today. Traditional naming, though, leans on haba, meaning width. Size names such as chū-haba, ni-haba, ni-shi-haba, and san-haba come from that way of thinking. The cloth is not only a number. It is a width-based tradition that stayed visible in language.
There is another detail I find fascinating. Furoshiki looks like a perfect square at first glance. Yet some explanations describe two directions, tenchi for the vertical direction and haba for the horizontal direction, and they note the cloth may not be perfectly square. One explanation says the tenchi side can be slightly longer than the haba side because of how fabric is cut and sewn from a bolt. The making process leaves a trace in the final shape.
Unit culture also differs across countries. Much of Europe uses metric units as the default in daily labeling. The United States still uses feet, inches, and pounds in daily life. NIST explains that metric use has been legal in the U.S. since 1866, and metric became the preferred system for U.S. trade and commerce in 1988. So even now, unit choices reflect history and habit, not only efficiency.
This way of thinking connects to how I design MUSUBISM. My standard sizes are S, 50 cm square, and L, 100 cm square. I do not make an M. One larger cloth can cover more situations. Fold a 100 cm cloth inward by 15 cm on each side. The working size becomes 70 cm square. The math stays simple. 100 minus 15 minus 15 equals 70. One piece becomes two practical sizes.
Units are more than conversion tables. In Japan, they often hold a record of how people build, sew, wrap, and carry. When I look at a furoshiki, I still care about centimeters. I also hold on to haba as an idea. It makes the cloth feel more connected to its origins.
References
Tatami size differences, Edo-ma and Kyo-ma
https://www.daiken.jp/buildingmaterials/tatami/columnipe/002/
Tanmono size guide
https://www.buysellonline.jp/blog/tanmono