A Short History of the Futon

by Jessica Clark, Britannica.com

Despite a boom in popularity, futons still draw distaste from those Americans who are accustomed to beds with posture-enhancing pockets and spongy pillow-tops. Still, these versatile mats, favored by students and fans of Japanese culture , have been adopted and adapted by U.S. connoisseurs for more than a century.

In his classic 1885 monograph, Japanese Homes and Their Surroundings, curator and scientist Edward Morse wrote:

In regard to the bed and its arrangements, the Japanese have reduced this affair to its simplest expression. The whole floor, the whole house indeed, is a bed, and one can fling himself down on the soft mats, in the draught or out of it, upstairs or down, and find a smooth, firm, and level surface upon which to sleep—no creaking springs, hard bunches or awkward hollows waiting him, but a bed-surface as wide as the room itself and comfortable to the last degree.

The futons Morse describes are quite different from those now gracing urban apartments. Quilted comforters that were encased and stuffed with cotton or silk, traditional futons were spread on the two-inch thick tatami mats that lined the floors of Japanese houses. Sleepers could use another futon as a cover and rest their heads on small pillows stuffed with buckwheat hulls. When the night was over, the futons were quickly folded and stored in waiting closets, leaving rooms clean and bare.

The futons' disappearing act was only part of the Japanese home design emphasizing space, light, and natural elements. Movable screens, or fusuma, separated rooms from one another or from the outside; by rearranging them, owners could transform the size, function, and feeling of an area. The tatamis, each about three by six feet (the size of a reclining person), served as both padding and units of architectural measurement. Houses were built to contain a certain number of mats per room. Fabric edging on each mat created rectangular floor patterns, echoing the posts supporting the building and the ceiling beams.

Decorations were simple and few, often celebrating natural elements such as flowers, birds, and trees. These spare aesthetics , which ran directly counter to the overstuffed American and European drawing rooms of Morse's time, have since strongly influenced U.S. design.

Futons themselves began to appear in bohemian crash pads in the late 1960s. Students of Asian culture made the mats by hand for friends because they were cheap and saved space. These cottage industries have become corporations in the past 30 years, subject to federal restrictions and boasting a glossy trade magazine, Futon Life.

No longer just floppy quilts, futons have grown thicker and may now be stuffed with organic cotton, synthetic foam, polyester, wool, or Wellspring™, a fiber made from recycled pop bottles. The fibers are laid down in webbed layers using a method called "garnetting." Finally, the cover is pulled over the layers by hand or by an automatic stuffing machine and is sewn or fastened with a zipper. Tufting, to hold all the layers together, may also be done by hand or machine.

Different fillings change the weight, firmness, rigidity, and flexibility of contemporary futons. Foam and wool stuffings impart rigidity; rigid futons are best for use as couches on bi-fold frames because they retain square edges and don't slump. Cotton and polyester futons are more flexible; they are best for use on a bed or a tri-fold frame that converts the mats into chairs. Convertible frames are an American innovation, and there are now several versions available in wood and metal.

Although the futon industry has tried to raise the profile of its product by offering brocade and leather covers and designer frames, many still consider them the choice of buyers on a limited budget. This may not be an indictment, however, in these times of the slipping Dow. As Morse noted:

In mentioning such a modest house and furnishing, the reader must not imagine that the family are constrained for want of room, or stinted in the necessary furniture; on the contrary, they are enabled to live in the most comfortable manner...They live without the slightest ostentation; no false display leads them into criminal debt.