Square Yards to Jō (tatami Mat) (yd² to jō)

1 square yard equals 0.5058570528 jō (tatami mat) exactly.

1 square yard = 0.5058570528 jō (tatami mat)

How to convert square yards to jō (tatami mat)

To convert square yards to jō (tatami mat), multiply the number of square yards by 0.5058570528. This factor is exact. To go the other way, multiply jō (tatami mat) by 1.976843052 (rounded).

jō (tatami mat) = square yards × 0.5058570528

Example: 10 square yards = 5.058570528 jō (tatami mat).

Approximate value. Standards for the jō (tatami mat) varied by place and period, so this converter uses the most commonly cited value. Treat results as estimates, not exact figures.

About these units

Square Yard (yd²)

US & ImperialCurrent unit

9 square feet (0.8361 m²). Used for carpet, turf and land in the UK and India (where it is called a gaj).

Branches and rods lie behind this unit. The word yard comes from Old English gerd or gyrd, meaning a staff or measuring rod, and it first appears in the late seventh-century laws of Ine of Wessex, where a yard of land was a tax unit. Where its length came from is uncertain: pacing, the cubit and the arm of King Henry I have all been suggested. A square yard is simply a square of that length on each side.

After the 1959 agreement among six countries fixed the yard at exactly 0.9144 meter, the square yard became exactly 9 square feet, 1,296 square inches or about 0.836 m². It is used across the English-speaking world, notably in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, India and Pakistan. In northern India it is called a gaj, and in Pakistan a gaz, and house plots there are often quoted in it. In the US and UK the yard, divided into eighths, is also how cloth is bought, so the square yard suits flooring and fabric in the same breath.

1 square yard = 0.83612736 square meters (exactly).

Sources: Wikipedia: Square yard; Wikipedia: Yard; NIST Guide to the SI, Appendix B.8: conversion factors

Jō (tatami Mat) (jō)

JapaneseTraditional unit (still used in some regions)Approximate value

Half a tsubo, about 1.653 m², the area of one tatami mat. Mats vary by region from about 1.44 to 1.82 m², and Japanese real-estate rules set a minimum of 1.62 m² per jō in advertisements.

Jō is the counter for tatami, the woven rush floor mats of Japanese rooms, and the word tatami comes from a verb meaning to fold or pile, since early mats were thin enough to be stacked away. Tatami began as seating for the aristocracy in the Heian period and covered whole rooms in samurai and temple houses by the Muromachi era. They reached ordinary homes only in the late 17th century.

Because a mat was a standard building module, rooms are still described as six jō or eight jō. A mat is about twice as long as it is wide, and size varies by region. Kyoto mats measure about 191 by 95.5 cm, around 1.82 m2, Nagoya mats about 1.65 m2 and Tokyo mats about 1.55 m2. Apartment-block mats can be smaller, near 1.44 m2.

Wikipedia takes the Nagoya mat as the reference, which makes one jō half a tsubo, exactly 200/121 m2 or about 1.653 m2, and that is the figure used here. A separate figure of 1.62 m2 is the minimum area per mat that Japanese property advertising rules allow when a room is described by its mat count, so it is a legal floor rather than a typical mat.

1 jō (tatami mat) = 1.652892562 square meters (approximately).

Sources: Wikipedia: Japanese units of measurement; Wikipedia: Tatami; Real Estate Tokyo: Units used for real estate size in Japan

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