Re-using

I never noticed these hanging on the side of our neighborhood vegetable stand.

They are silk braids used as borders on tatami mats.

Our vegetable stand man used them to build and reinforce his vegetable stand.

He tied this pole to a tree.

His stand is closed for lunch.

Check out this post to see the braids on tatami.

Houses: No Slippers on Tatami

Slippers are worn on wooden floors, rugs, tile and linoleum, but not on tatami. Slippers are left at the door of a washitsu, a room that has tatami or grass mat flooring. Slippers are also left at the door of the toilet. See the blog entry about toilets.

Oops! I forgot my manners! I staged this photo to show you the tatami. I should have turned the slippers around before taking this picture. Shoes and slippers are placed outside a door so that as you're leaving a room or house they're easy to slip into.