Washitsu
A washitsu, meaning "Japanese-style room", and frequently called a "tatami room" in English, is a Japanese room with traditional tatami flooring. also usually have sliding doors, rather than hinged doors between rooms. They may have and, if the particular room is meant to serve as a reception room for guests, it may have a .
Traditionally, most rooms in a Japanese dwelling were in style. However, many modern Japanese houses have only one, which is sometimes used for entertaining guests, and most other rooms are Western-style. Many new construction Japanese apartments have no at all, instead using linoleum or hardwood floors.
The size of a is measured by the number of tatami mats, using the counter word , which, depending on the area, are between 1.5 m2 and 1.8 m2. Typical room sizes are six or eight tatami mats in a private home. There are also half-sized mats, as in a 4.5-tatami room.
People sit directly on the, on , or on special low chairs set on the tatami. For sleeping, a futon is laid out in the evening and folded away in the morning. Other furniture in a may include a low table at which a family may eat dinner or entertain guests, and a, a particular type of low table that contains a heating element used in the wintertime, may also be provided. The kotatsu may be particularly important in winter as most Japanese homes do not have central heating.
The antonym is , meaning "Western-style room". Another term for is , and the corresponding term for is .