My bony knees don’t enjoy stiff mats. Well, they are a bit temperamental when it comes to a lot of things nowadays. When I studied Iaido, I was introduced to the benefits of volleyball knee pads when kneeling or sitting Seiza on hardwood floors.
There are a number of knee pads out there, but to protect all angles your knees might experience I highly recommend volleyball pads, especially these Asics pads. They’re even roomy enough to accommodate my knee sleeve. You loose some range of motion, but that has just encouraged more stretching.
