We have launched TATAMI, an okidatami mat edged in leather.
Shoes with tatami insoles, bags woven with tatami, green tea blended with igusa.
After years of exploring what igusa rush can do, Liberato has made the tatami itself.
Tatami borders have been woven from cotton and hemp thread for centuries.
We used leather instead, so the mat sits naturally in a living room or any western-style space.
The four edges are bound in the same Himeji steer leather we use for our shoes.
The facing is igusa grown in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto, woven in the ni-ni-me weave.
■ Product details
Colours: Natural, Navy
Sizes: 70cm square, 88cm square
Price: ¥49,500 – ¥55,000 (tax included)
■ In twenty years, igusa farms fell to a quarter
More than 90% of Japan's igusa is grown in Kumamoto Prefecture.
In 2002 there were 1,340 igusa farms. By 2020 there were 363.
Around 80% of the tatami sold in Japan today is imported.
We chose tatami as a material because we want to help keep this craft alive.
■ Then disaster struck twice
In August 2025, the floods now known in Japan as the Reiwa 7 August heavy rainfall hit Kyushu.
Near Izumi in Yatsushiro, around 110mm of rain fell in a single hour before dawn on 11 August, and an emergency heavy rain warning was issued for Kumamoto Prefecture.
The workshop in Yatsushiro flooded. Tatami facings waiting to be shipped were soaked in muddy water and discarded. The dryers and the looms went under.
Rebuilding was still underway when, on 28 July 2026, the Kumamoto earthquake hit the same region.
Magnitude 7.1, with a maximum seismic intensity of 7 — the highest level on Japan's intensity scale, which measures shaking at ground level rather than the energy of the quake.
Uki City and Hikawa Town, where that intensity was recorded, are igusa growing areas alongside Yatsushiro.
Twice, in under a year.
■ We donate 5% of sales
Our work only exists because the region does.
This is not charity. It is the cost of protecting the thing our business depends on.
We donate 5% of sales from this product to the Kumamoto Igusa Industry Production and Sales Promotion Association.
Orders placed on or before 31 December 2026 are included; the total will be sent in January 2027.
Whether we continue beyond that will depend on how the region recovers.