folding book
A book made of folded sheets, often used for traditional calligraphy or painting albums.
この帖には古い和歌が書かれている。
Old waka poems are written in this folding book.
counter for units of paper and nori
Traditional counter for paper and nori: 1 帖 = 48 sheets of Mino paper, 20 sheets of hanshi, or 10 sheets of nori. Rare in modern daily life.
美濃紙を一帖ください。
Please give me one unit (48 sheets) of Mino paper.
counter for pairs of curtains
Counts pairs of curtains; one 帖 is a pair. Specialized usage.
この部屋にはカーテンが三帖かかっている。
This room has three pairs of curtains hanging.
counter for tatami mats
Commonly used to count tatami mats and express room size. Often written as 畳, but 帖 is also used.
See also: 畳 (じょう)
この部屋は六帖あります。
This room is six tatami mats in size.
I bought one 帖 (48 sheets) of Mino paper.
祖父の家には二帖の屏風がある。
My grandfather's house has a two-panel folding screen.
I live in a six-tatami-mat room.
畳 is the traditional, general-purpose counter for tatami mats, while 帖 is the same reading and meaning but used mainly in real estate listings.
帖 and 畳 can both serve as the counter for tatami mats (read じょう), but 畳 is the standard, everyday kanji while 帖 is a rarer alternative spelling for the same counter.
冊 is the ordinary counter for bound books, while 帖 (in its 'folding book' sense) is itself a specialized counter/unit used for folded albums like calligraphy books.
copybook of old master calligraphy
quire (of paper)
picture album; sketchbook
tengujo; tengucho; thin washi
stamp book; pilgrim's passport; souvenir seal album
The kanji 帖 originally referred to a folded document or book, and its counter uses derive from counting folded or sheet-like items. The tatami-mat counter sense is an extension of counting flat, sheet-like objects.