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At a recent dinner party in NYC, our Japanese host set out a kotatsu, a type of low table not commonly sold in the US; in fact, it was the first time we'd seen one outside Japan. (Our host had lugged it through Narita and JFK.) As the ethnically-mixed company arrived, every Japanese guest expressed delighted surprise at the table's appearance and eagerly took turns manning it. All of them had grown up with one and maintained a warm (no pun intended) connection with it.
So what is it?
The kotatsu looks rather like a coffee table and is comprised of four parts: 1) the wooden structure, 2) a heating element that hangs in the center of the structure, 3) a heavy futon blanket, and 4) a tabletop that sandwiches the blanket between itself and the structure.
The user sits at the table (on the floor--remember, it's coffee-table height) with their legs under the blanket, which traps the heat underneath the table. In Japan, where houses are often built without insulation and central heat due to the frequency of earthquakes and the problems those things provide, a kotatsu may be the only source of heat in the house.
A friend in Japan explained to us that keeping the bottom half of the body warm while the head and torso remain cool provides mental clarity, which is good for working, as opposed to the tendency to doze that can come with full-body heat.
But we'd also read that the kotatsu was designed hundreds of years ago (with charcoal, not electricity as a heat source, obviously) during a time when the Japanese wore loose, flowing clothes; the heat would enter the wearer's clothing at the bottom and exit through the neck opening, thus heating the entire body.
As we've said before, kotatsu are not terribly easy to come by outside of Japan; but they're simple enough to make on your own. And while the design of the table is not explicitly informed by earthquakes, we do find it an interesting solution vis-a-vis its environment.
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Comments
this is absolutely my dream table! O_O
thats some lazy ass shit!!!!
It is just like any other table ya use for bed ridden ppl in UK. I see it everyday at work as nurse. Nowt new there.
Internet access and overheated genitalia...
Sounds like a sticky situation.
Ah.. at my grandmother's house in Japan, in one of the rooms you could take off the central tatami mats, and revealing a grated floor that housed the electric heater. That way, you could sit at the table and dangle your legs, as if you were sitting in a chair. As a child I would just playing under there, amused at another example of Japan's crazy hotness and ingenuity.
My husband just found me propped up for work at our coffee table and pointed me to the site. The coffee table is too high and therefore unergonomic but it's the same idea. I love it!
This is really neato it would be better without the heater for me though
Very clever indeed.
great idea, but id prob cramp before i finish any work by that table..
What about fire?
It's a nice table but man it's to low for those of us with artificial knees who can't get up and down from low heights. It's a table for young people.
There culture is much different from ours. We can learn a lot from how they do things.
you know this table was not only used by the Japanese
I used to live in Japan and i love kotatsu . If i could get one here in canada i would . Its very nice and feels very confortable , especially in the winter but i remember i fell asleep while sitting at a kotatsu and i felt kind of dizzy when i woke up because it was really hot under that kotatsu . Would be also nice to have one with a timer .
I am sitting under a kotatsu right now. It is wonderful. I brought back a couple from Japan with me. Also brought a few heaters to make more.
I lived in Japan for 13 years and my house had no central heat. The o-furo (bath), electric blanket and the kotastu were three perfect ways to keep warm up in the Central Alps in Nagano-ken. The house got so cold, we used the fridge to keep the milk from freezing!!! But it wasn't as bad as it seems. We loved it.
Oh, I forgot, the toilet seat was also heated....brought back six of those and gave for presents to family and friends.
Japan has a lot of great, and very practical things they take for granted. Check eBay for kotatsu.
Andy