What size is a Japanese obi?

It depends on the type. A formal fukuro obi is typically around 30 to 32cm wide and 4 to 4.5m long. A nagoya obi is shorter. A hanhaba obi is, as the name says, roughly half the width. The two pieces currently in our shop measure about 31 x 440cm and 30.5 x 440cm, or roughly 12 x 173 inches.

How long should a table runner be?

The usual guidance is your table length plus 30 to 60cm total, split as an overhang at each end, and a width of no more than about a third of the table's width. A vintage obi is far longer than that on most domestic tables, so the question becomes how to place the excess rather than whether it will reach.

Will an obi fit my dining table?

Almost certainly in width — around 30cm suits a table 90cm wide or more. Length is the opposite problem: an obi will usually be too long rather than too short, and it only lands at a conventional overhang on a table around 3.8 to 4.1m. On a shorter table you fold, drape, double it back, or run it across.

Obi Table Runner Size Guide: Length, Width and What to Do With the Extra

A vintage obi is around 30cm wide and up to 4.5m long — far longer than a standard table runner. How to measure, what fits, and five ways to handle the excess length.

TL;DR: A formal vintage obi is roughly 30cm wide and 4 to 4.5m long. The width is close to ideal for a standard dining table. The length is not — it is roughly twice what a table runner guide would recommend for a six-seat table, so an obi almost always leaves you with surplus cloth to place deliberately. That is a feature once you know the five ways to handle it, and a problem only if you were expecting a piece cut to a retail size.

Every sizing guide on the internet tells you a runner should be your table length plus a modest overhang. None of them account for a four-and-a-half metre textile woven to wrap a body rather than dress a table. This one does.

The numbers#

Standard retail table runner: commonly around 30 to 40cm wide, and 180 to 230cm long for a table seating four to six. The conventional rules are that the runner should be no more than about a third of the table’s width, and that it should overhang each end by at least 15cm.

Vintage obi: a formal fukuro obi runs roughly 30 to 32cm wide and 4 to 4.5m long, in one uncut piece. A nagoya obi is shorter, and a hanhaba obi is around half the width — the differences are set out in our guide to fukuro, nagoya and hanhaba. The two pieces in our shop today measure 31 x 440cm and 30.5 x 440cm.

So on width, an obi is already a well-proportioned table runner. On length it is a banquet textile.

Length: what actually happens on your table#

Take a 440cm obi and lay it centred, flat, running the length of the table. This is the overhang you get:

| Table length | Overhang per end | Verdict | |—|—|—| | 120cm (4-seat square or small round) | 160cm | Pools on the floor. Do not lay it flat | | 150cm | 145cm | Far too much. Fold or drape | | 180cm (typical 6-seat) | 130cm | Too much for a flat lay. This is the most common case | | 240cm (8-seat) | 100cm | Still a dramatic floor-length drape | | 300cm | 70cm | Long drape, works in a formal room with high ceilings | | 360cm | 40cm | Close to a generous conventional overhang | | 380–410cm | 15–30cm | The conventional overhang. A banquet or refectory table |

The honest summary: unless you own a very long table, the obi will not “fit” in the way a retail runner fits. It will be longer, and what you do with the extra is a styling decision rather than a sizing failure.

Width: measure this before you buy#

Width is where a real mismatch can happen, and it is easy to check.

Measure your table’s width. A standard dining table is around 90 to 100cm.
Apply the third rule. A third of 90cm is 30cm, which is almost exactly a fukuro obi. A third of 75cm — a narrow console or small table — is 25cm, and a 30cm obi will look heavy on it.
Leave room for place settings. A 30cm band down the centre of a 90cm table leaves 30cm each side, which takes a dinner plate but not a full place setting with a charger. For everyday dining on a narrow table, consider running the obi across the table rather than along it.

For a console, sideboard or bedroom bench — usually 35 to 45cm deep — a 30cm obi is close to full coverage, which reads as a cloth rather than a runner. That can be exactly right; just know which effect you are choosing.

Five ways to place the extra length#

1. The deliberate drape#

Let both ends fall. On a 180cm table this gives you roughly 130cm hanging at each end, which reaches the floor in most rooms. It is a strong, formal look, and it is the one situation where the obi’s length is unambiguously an asset. Not practical where people walk past the table ends, and not suitable with a cat.

2. Fold the ends under#

Fold the excess back underneath the runner at each end, hidden, until the visible overhang is 15 to 30cm. Nothing is cut, nothing is sewn, and the piece is fully reversible to its original state. This is the default we recommend, and it is what makes the same obi work on a 180cm table now and a 300cm one later.

3. Double it lengthwise#

Fold the obi in half along its length and run the doubled band down the centre. You get a 15cm-wide runner with double the visual weight and half the length problem — well suited to a narrow console or a small round table, and a way to show the reverse or a different section of the pattern.

4. Run it across, not along#

Place the obi across the width of the table, perpendicular to its length, as a band under a centrepiece. On a 90cm-wide table this leaves a modest overhang each side and uses a fraction of the obi’s length, with the rest folded under. Useful on small tables and for photography.

5. Two tables, one obi#

For events, a single obi can run a long ceremony or buffet table that no retail runner reaches in one piece — the absence of a seam is the point. Our Japanese wedding tablescape guide covers that arrangement in detail.

More arrangements, with what each one does to the room, are in how to style an obi as a table runner.

Should you cut it?#

You can. We would rather you did not, and we will say why rather than moralise.

Cutting is irreversible on a one-of-one historical object, it removes the piece’s ability to move to another table or a wall, and it reduces resale value considerably. It also means hemming: a cut edge on a brocade will fray, so a cut obi needs finishing to survive use.

The case for cutting is real in one situation: a piece already graded display-only because of damage, where cutting around a defect rescues a usable panel. That is how framed obi panels are made, and it is a good use for a piece that would otherwise not sell. On a sound piece, fold instead — folding achieves the same visible result and keeps every option open.

Before you buy: the three measurements#

Table length, to choose which of the five placements you will use.
Table width, divided by three, to sanity-check the obi’s width against your surface.
Floor clearance at the table ends, if you are considering the full drape — and an honest assessment of whether that end of the room is a walkway.

Then ask the seller for the piece’s exact dimensions in centimetres rather than a category-typical figure, because vintage widths and lengths vary. That question is one of seven worth asking any seller, listed in our guide to where to buy an authentic vintage obi.

Every obi in the KINU Tokyo shop is listed with its measured dimensions in both centimetres and inches, alongside its fibre, era and condition. If you tell us your table length and width, we will tell you which piece in stock suits it — or that none of them do.