It is from this material that mats are woven in standard sizes, to be laid over padding, upholstering the floors which are the seats of all classes in Japan, used in the manner seen in Fig. 228 and in Fig. 229, which is a completely furnished guest room in a first class Japanese inn, finished in natural unvarnished wood, with walls of sliding panels of translucent paper, which may open upon a porch, into a hallway or into another apartment; and with its bouquet, which may consist of a single large shapely branch of the purple leaved maple, having the cut end charred to preserve it fresh for a longer time, standing in water in the vase.

“Two little maids I’ve heard of, each with a pretty taste, Who had two little rooms to fix and not an hour to waste.  Eight thousand miles apart they lived, yet on the selfsame day The one in Nikko’s narrow streets, the other on Broadway, They started out, each happy maid her heart’s desire to find, And her own dear room to furnish just according to her mind.

When Alice went a-shopping, she bought a bed of brass, A bureau and some chairs and things and such a lovely glass To reflect her little figure—­with two candle brackets near—­ And a little dressing table that she said was simply dear!  A book shelf low to hold her books, a little china rack, And then, of course, a bureau set and lots of bric-a-brac; A dainty little escritoire, with fixings all her own And just for her convenience, too, a little telephone.  Some oriental rugs she got, and curtains of madras, With ‘cunning’ ones of lace inside, to go against the glass; And then a couch, a lovely one, with cushions soft to crush, And forty pillows, more or less, of linen, silk and plush; Of all the ornaments besides I couldn’t tell the half, But wherever there was nothing else, she stuck a photograph.  And then, when all was finished, she sighed a little sigh, And looked about with just a shade of sadness in her eye:  ’For it needs a statuette or so—­a fern—­a silver stork Oh, something, just to fill it up!’ said Alice of New York.

When little Oumi of Japan went shopping, pitapat, She bought a fan of paper and a little sleeping mat; She set beside the window a lily in a vase, And looked about with more than doubt upon her pretty face:  ’For, really—­don’t you think so?—­with the lily and the fan.  It’s a little overcrowded!’ said Oumi of Japan.”

(Margaret Johnson in St. Nicholas Magazine)

In the rural homes of Japan during 1906 there were woven 14,497,058 sheets of these floor mats and 6,628,772 sheets of other matting, having a combined value of $2,815,040, and in addition, from the best quality of rush grown upon the same ground, aggregating 7657 acres that year, there were manufactured for the export trade, fancy mattings, having the value of $2,274,131.  Here is a total value, for the product of the soil and for the labor put into the manufacture, amounting to $664 per acre for the area named.