Traditional Japanese bedding

I was in a homestay in Nagoya for two weeks when I was fifteen, and stayed in their traditional Japanese room (I guess they were rich enough to have one?)

It’s so uncomfortable at first, but the trick is to completely relax and sink into sleep. Once you figure that out, it’s the most amazing sleep you’ll ever have, I swear. It’s like how drunks don’t injure themselves as much when they fall because they’re floppy… or something.

The futon in OP’s photo looks a lot thicker than the one I slept on. Traditional ones are really the thickness of a couple of duvets.

I don’t wanna sleep that close to the floor. Do any of the beds sit up higher?

I slept like this throughout my teens and early twenties. To me, it was perfect. I love hard bedding. Now, in my forties, not so much. Things are starting to hurt and I bought a softer bed (still the hardest mattress they had, though.) Miss sleeping close to the floor though but it's a question of habit, R3 - and getting up from a low position is harder as you age.

I just got a new mattress, R4, and it’s a medium (not firm) Simba, on a frame that’s off the floor. This after futons, road mattresses, what have you. I fucking love it!!

As a perpetual insomniac, I still like the feeling of having to surrender into relaxation and sleep that you get from a traditional futon (with each breath out you have to sink lower and relax more), but I’m 52 now, and also suffered a spinal cord injury a couple of years ago (from severe “precocious” arthritis of the cervical spine that doctors didn’t take seriously until it was too late) that makes getting up off the floor - or, indeed, walking - not as easy as once it was (O, sweet Youth!!! 😩)

So, yes - futons *can* be really comfortable, but it takes a real adjustment of your mindset: a cessation of struggle against discomfort… which is very Japanese.

I slept on a futon when I first got my own place. Had it for about two years.

Does that count?

I wouldn’t want to sleep so close to the floor now. I’m older and I like being comfortable.

How do Japanese oldsters sleep on the floor? More importantly, how do they get to their feet when they wake?

Seems like a Western bed would be a kindness to them.

I really love that they’ll have an elaborate duvet, but with a *reverse* fitted sheet; like, the sheet part is underneath to protect the quilt, with the elastic bits on the outside. It’s very sensible!

That's the usual type of duvet sheet in Europe, R8. Don't know about Asia.

[quote] How do Japanese oldsters sleep on the floor? More importantly, how do they get to their feet when they wake?

Their short. They live in short worlds. I am a 6'3" Eldergay, and if I am ever on the floor it is by accident.

I didn’t know that, R9! My family’s English; we just had the typical total duvet cover that gets washed. :)

Wait, is OP seriously asking about futons as if that wasn't a huge trend in the 80s and 90s in the US?

I wouldn't like sleeping down where the creepy-crawlies live.

OP - Most of the obese queens on DL could never get that low let alone get back up again. That would be their death bed.

R12 - I lived through the 80s/90s; what we called “futons” (an extremely thick duvet on an adjustible pine frame) had little to do with actual Japanese bedding.

Srsly, R13… do they even have giant house spiders in Japan?!

The first time I went to Japan, about ten years ago, I was astonished at how well I slept in those traditional rooms. I still think longingly of the place in Kyoto where I slept better than I had in years.

[quote] They're short. They live in short worlds. I am a 6'3" Eldergay, and if I am ever on the floor it is by accident.

Some people might be surprised that the average height is still relatively tall! According to Japan's National Health and Nutrition Survey, the average height was still only 160.3cm (5'2”) for men and 148.9cm (4'9”) for women – that's an increase of about 10 centimeters in the span of almost 70 years.

R10

I've had a few rough days. Your "if I am ever on the floor it is by accident." comment made me laugh out loud. (Funny AND true.)

Thank you so much.

Bump

Nothing traditional.about that photo. It looks like a mattress on tatami. Meant for gaijin I suppose.

Traditional Japanese bedding is, as said, duvet-like. During the day it's folded away in a cupboard, so the room can be used otherwise. That's the point.

Sleeping on a heated floor in Korea is a lot more comfortable.

[quote] The first time I went to Japan, about ten years ago, I was astonished at how well I slept in those traditional rooms. I still think longingly of the place in Kyoto where I slept better than I had in years.

Oh honey, no. They drugged your ass. Didn't you see Hostel?!

[quote] do they even have giant house spiders in Japan?! —they’re my greatest fear!

We know where you live.