Japanese units of measurement

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Traditional Japanese units of measurement or the shakkanhō (尺貫法) is the

Korean and Taiwanese units of measurement
derive from these values as well.

For a time in the early 20th century, the traditional, metric, and

gō, with the most common bottle sizes being 4 (720 mL) or 10 (1.8 L, isshōbin).[2]

History

Customary Japanese units are a local adaption of the

traditional Chinese system, which was adopted at a very early date. They were imposed and adjusted at various times by local and imperial statutes. The details of the system have varied over time and location in Japan's history.[3]

Japan signed the

kilogram from the International Bureau of Weights and Measures in 1890.[4] The next year, a weights and measurements law codified the Japanese system, taking its fundamental units to be the shaku and kan and deriving the others from them.[4] The law codified the values of the traditional and metric units in terms of one another,[4] but retained the traditional units as the formal standard and metric values as secondary.[5]

1891 definitions
Unit Definition Conversions
Romanised Kanji
Length metres metres
feet
shaku 尺 10⁄33 0.303 0.9942
Area square
metres 		square
metres 		square
feet
tsubo
 		坪 100⁄30.25 3.306 35.58
Volume litres litres
US
gallons
Imperial
gallons
shō 升 2401⁄1331 1.804 0.4765 0.3968
Mass kilograms kilograms pounds
kan 貫 15⁄4 3.750 8.267
Note: Definitions are exact and conversions are rounded to four significant figures.

In 1909,

World War I, the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce established a Committee for Weights and Measures and Industrial Standards, part of whose remit was to investigate which of Japan's three legal systems should be adopted.[4] Upon its advice, the Imperial Diet established the metric system as Japan's legal standard, effective 1 July 1924,[6] with use of the other systems permitted as a transitional measure.[4] The government and "leading industries" were to convert within the next decade, with others following in the decade after that.[7] Public education—at the time compulsory through primary school—began to teach the metric system.[7] Governmental agencies and the Japanese Weights and Measures Association undertook a gradual course of education and conversion but opposition became vehemently outspoken in the early 1930s. Nationalists decried the "foreign" system as harmful to Japanese pride, language, and culture, as well as restrictive to international trade. In 1933, the government pushed the deadline for the conversion of the first group of industries to 1939; the rest of the country was given until 1954.[7] Emboldened, the nationalists succeeded in having an Investigating Committee for Weights and Measures Systems established. In 1938, it advised that the government should continue to employ the "Shaku–Kan" system alongside the metric one.[7] The next year, the imperial ordinance concerning the transition to the metric system was formally revised, indefinitely exempting real estate and historical objects and treasures from any need for metric conversion. The deadline for compulsory conversion in all other fields was moved back to 31 December 1958.[7]

Following

US customary units. Gasoline was sold by the gallon and cloth by the yard.[8] The Diet revisited the nation's measurements and, with the occupation's approval, promulgated a Measurements Law in June 1951 that reaffirmed its intention to continue Japan's metrication, effective on the first day of 1959.[8] An unofficial and ad hoc Metric System Promotion Committee was established by interested scholars, public servants, and businessmen in August 1955, undertaking a public awareness campaign and seeking to accomplish as much of the conversion ahead of schedule as possible.[8] Its first success was the conversion of candy sales in Tokyo department stores from the momme to the gram in September 1956; others followed, with NHK taking the lead in media use.[9]

With the majority of the public now exposed to it since childhood,

$140 and governmental agencies mostly preferred to wait for voluntary conversion, metric use by December 1959 was estimated at only 85%.[12] Since research showed that individual Japanese did not intend to actually use the metric units when given other options, however, sale and verification of devices marked with non-metric units (such as rulers and tape measures noting shaku and sun) were criminalised after 1961.[11]

Some use of the traditional units continues. Some Japanese describe their weight in terms of kan.

baseball.[11]

Length

A man playing the shakuhachi flute, named after its traditional length of 1 shaku and 8 sun (54.5 cm)

The base unit of Japanese length is the shaku based upon the Chinese

foot.[citation needed
]

As in China and Korea, Japan employed different shaku for different purposes. The "carpentry" shaku (曲尺, kanejaku) was used for construction. It was a little longer in the 19th century prior to its metric redefinition.

Nara has ivory 1-shaku rulers, the kōgebachiru-no-shaku (紅牙撥鏤尺).[citation needed
]

The Japanese ri is now much longer than the

feet (1853.19 m) was also formerly used by the Japanese in maritime contexts as a "marine ri".[14] A fourth and shorter ri of about 600 m is still evident in some beach names. The "99-Ri" beach at Kujukuri is about 60 km. The "7-Ri" beach at Shichiri is 4.2 km long.[citation needed
]

Table of Lengths[16]
Unit Shaku[14] Metric
US & Imperial
Romanised Kanji Exact Approx. Exact Approx.
Mō 毛 or 毫  1⁄10000  1/33,000 m 0.03030 mm 5/150,876 yd 0.001193 in
Rin 厘 or 釐 1⁄1000  1/3300 m 0.3030 mm 25/75,438 yd 0.01193 in
Bu 分 1⁄100  1/330 m 3.030 mm 125/37,719 yd 0.1193 in
Sun 寸 1⁄10  1/33 m 3.030 cm 1250/37,719 yd 1.193 in
Shaku 尺 1   10/33 m 30.30 cm 12,500/37,719 yd 11.93 in
Ken[b]
 間 6   20/11 m 1.818 m 25,000/12,573 yd 5 ft 11.6 in
Hiro 尋
Jō 丈 10   100/33 m 3.030 m 125,000/37,719 yd 9 ft 11.3 in
Chō 町 360   1200/11 m 109.1 m 500,000/4191 yd 357 ft 11 in
Ri[c]
 里 12,960  43,200/11 m 3.927 km 6,000,000/1397 yd 2.440 mi
Notes:
  • Exact figures follow the 1891 Law of Weights & Measures and 1959 International Yard and Pound Agreement.
  • Approximations are rounded to four significant figures.
  • The names of the smallest units, borrowed from Chinese, also function as the Japanese names
    for the fractions "hundredth", "thousandth", and "ten-thousandth".
  • The ken is the normal unit of distance and length; the hiro used as the equivalent unit of depth.
  • Sometimes hiro is used equal to 5 shaku[19] (50/33 m, ~1.5152 metres).

The traditional units are still used for construction materials in Japan. For example, plywood is usually manufactured in 182 cm × 91 cm (about 72 in × 36 in) sheets known in the trade as saburokuhan (3 × 6版), or 3 × 6 shaku. Each sheet is about the size of one

Issun Bōshi (一寸法師), literally "one sun boy", as well as in many Japanese proverbs.[citation needed
]

Area

Area floored with 8 tatami mats (4 tsubo, or 8 jō)

The base unit of Japanese area is the

floorspace. [20] Due to historical connections, the tsubo is still used as the official base unit of area in Taiwan.[citation needed
]

In agricultural contexts, the tsubo is known as the bu. The larger units remain in common use by Japanese farmers when discussing the sizes of fields.[citation needed]

Table of area units [16]
Unit
Tsubo
 Metric
US & Imperial
Romanized Kanji Exact Approx. Exact Approx.
Shaku 勺 1⁄100 4/121 m2 330.6 cm2 6,250,000/158,080,329 sq yd 51.24 sq in
Gō 合 1⁄10 40/121 m2 0.3306 m2 62,500,000/158,080,329 sq yd 3.558 sq ft
Jō 畳 or 帖 1⁄2 200/121 m2 1.653 m2 312,500,000/158,080,329 sq yd 17.79 sq ft
Tsubo
 坪 1 400/121 m2 3.306 m2 625,000,000/158,080,329 sq yd 35.58 sq ft
Bu 歩
Se 畝 30 12,000/121 m2 99.17 m2 6,250,000,000/52,693,443 sq yd 1,067 sq ft
Tan 段 or 反 300 120,000/121 m2 991.7 m2 62,500,000,000/52,693,443 sq yd 10,674.6 sq ft
Chō(bu)[d] 町(歩) 3000 1,200,000/121 m2 0.9917 ha 625,000,000,000/52,693,443 sq yd 2.4505 acres
Notes:
  • Approximations are rounded to four significant figures.

Volume

A wooden masu sake cup (1 gō) for celebrations

The base unit of Japanese volume is the shō, although the

shochu are both commonly sold in large 1800 mL bottles known as isshōbin (一升瓶), literally "one shō bottle".[21]

The koku is historically important: since it was reckoned as the amount of rice necessary to feed a person for a single year, it was used to compute agricultural output and official salaries.[citation needed] The koku of rice was sometimes reckoned as 3000 "sacks".[15] By the 1940s the shipping koku was 1⁄10 of the shipping ton[14] of 40 or 42 cu ft (i.e., 110–120 L); the koku of timber was about 10 cu ft (280 L);[14] and the koku of fish, like many modern bushels, was no longer reckoned by volume but computed by weight (40 kan).[14] The shakujime of timber was about 12 cu ft (340 L) and the taba about 108 ft³ (3,100 L or 3.1 m3).[14]

Table of volume units [16]
Unit Shō Metric US Imperial
Romanized Kanji Exact Approx. Exact Approx. Exact Approx.
Sai 才 1⁄1000 2401/1,331,000 L 1.804 mL 37,515,625/15,900,351,812,136 cu yd 29.28 
min
 240,100/605,084,579 
gal
 30.47 
min
0.1101 cu in
Shaku 勺 1⁄100 2401/133,100 L 18.04 mL 187,578,125/7,950,175,906,068 cu yd 0.6100 
fl oz
 2,401,000/605,084,579 
gal
 0.6349 
fl oz
1.101 cu in
Gō
 合 1⁄10 2401/13,310 L 180.4 mL 937,890,625/3,975,087,953,034 cu yd 0.3812 
pt
 24,010,000/605,084,579 
gal
 0.3174 
pt
0.3276 
dry pt
Shō 升 1 2401/1331 L 1.804 L 4,689,453,125/1,987,543,976,517 cu yd 1.906 
qt
 240,100,000/605,084,579 
gal
 1.587 
qt
1.638 
dry qt
To 斗 10 24,010/1331 L 18.04 L 46,894,531,250/1,987,543,976,517 cu yd 4.765 
gal
 2,401,000,000/605,084,579 
gal
 3.968 
gal
2.048 
pk
Koku[e] 石 100 240,100/1331 L 180.4 L 468,945,312,500/1,987,543,976,517 cu yd 47.65 
gal
 24,010,000,000/605,084,579 
gal
 39.680 
gal
5.119 
bu
Notes:
  • Approximations are rounded to four significant figures.

Mass

A set of ten traditional Japanese fundō weights, used by money changers to weigh coinage. Top row from left are 30 ryō (1124.66 g), 20 ryō (749.07 g) and 10 ryō (374.62 g, twice), bottom row from left are 3 momme (11.19 g), 1 ryō (37.47 g, twice), 2 ryō (74.89 g), 3 ryō (112.42 g) and 4 ryō (149.77 g). All metric weights actual, not rounded.

The base unit of Japanese mass is the kan, although the momme is more common. It is a recognised unit in the international pearl industry.[22] In English-speaking countries, momme is typically abbreviated as mo.

The Japanese form of the Chinese tael was the ryō (両).[f] It was customarily reckoned as around 4 or 10 momme[15] but, because of its importance as a fundamental unit of the silver and gold bullion used as currency in medieval Japan, it varied over time and location from those notional values.[citation needed]

Table of units of mass [16]
Unit Kan[25] Metric
US & Imperial
Romanised
 Kanji Legal Decimal Exact Approx.
Mō 毛 or 毫 1⁄1,000,000 3/800,000 kg 3.75 mg 375/45,359,237 
lb
 8.267 μlb
Rin 厘 1⁄100,000 3/80,000 kg 37.5 mg 3750/45,359,237 
lb
 0.5787 gr
Fun[g] 分 1⁄10,000 3/8000 kg 375 mg 37,500/45,359,237 
lb
 5.787 gr
Momme
Monme[h] 		匁 1⁄1000 3/800 kg 3.75 
g
 375,000/45,359,237 
lb
 2.116 
dr
Hyakume 百目 1⁄10 3/8 kg 375 
g
 37,500,000/45,359,237 
lb
 13.23 
oz
Kin[i] 斤 4⁄25 3/5 kg 600 
g
 60,000,000/45,359,237 
lb
 1.323 
lb
Kan(me)[j] 貫(目) 1 15/4 kg 3.75 kg 375,000,000/45,359,237 
lb
 8.267 
lb
Maru 丸 8 30 kg 3,000,000,000/45,359,237 
lb
 66.14 
lb
Tan[k] 担 or 擔 16 60 kg 6,000,000,000/45,359,237 
lb
 132.3 
lb
Notes:
  • Exact figures follow the 1891 Law of Weights & Measures and 1959
    International Yard and Pound Agreement
    .
  • Metric values are exact. US & imperial approximations are rounded to four significant figures.

Imperial units

Imperial units are sometimes used in Japan. Feet and inches are used for most non-sport bicycles, whose tyre sizes follow a British system; for sizes of magnetic tape and many pieces of computer hardware; for photograph sizes; and for the sizes of electronic displays for electronic devices. Photographic prints, however, are usually rounded to the nearest millimetre and screens are not described in terms of inches but "type" (型, gata). For instance, a television whose screen has a 17-inch diagonal is described as a "17-type" (17型) and one with a 32-inch widescreen screen is called a "32-vista-type" (32V型).[citation needed]

See also

References

Notes

  1. English foot" as 1 shaku 4 rin, making the shaku equivalent to about 0.996 ft.[13]
  2. fathom.[15]
  3. ^ The Japanese ri is also frequently known by its Chinese name li[15] or glossed as the Japanese mile.[18]
  4. ^ Chōbu is used rather than chō when no fraction follows.[citation needed]
  5. ^ The koku has also appeared in English as the kokf and its multiples as the ikwankokf or ickmagog (1000 koku) and man-kokf or managoga (10,000 koku).[15]
  6. ^ The ryō is sometimes written in English as ryo, without its macron.[23] It also appears in English sources as the tael,[24] the táīl, the táhil, and the táïl.[15]
  7. ^ The fun is more often known in English as the candareen.[26] It also sometimes appears as the kondúrí or konderi.[15]
  8. Revised Hepburn romanization of the unit, momme is more common in English.[27] It also sometimes appears as the mommé, me,[citation needed] or mas.[15]
  9. catty[28] or katí.[15]
  10. ^ The kan is also sometimes known in English as the kwan.[14]
  11. picul,[29] pikul, or pikel.[15]

Citations

  1. ^ "尺貫法(しゃっかんほう)とは". コトバンク (in Japanese). Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  2. ^ "Hakushika | Sake Culture | Sake and Traditional Japanese Measurements".
  3. ISBN 978-1-4020-4559-2
    .
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Tamano (1971), p. 97.
  5. ^ Lyon (1902), p. 933.
  6. ^ "改正度量衡法規", Digital Collections, Tokyo: National Diet Library. (in Japanese)
  7. ^ a b c d e f Tamano (1971), p. 98.
  8. ^ a b c Tamano (1971), p. 99.
  9. ^ a b Tamano (1971), p. 100.
  10. ^ "メートル条約", Official site, Ibaraki: International Metrology Cooperation Office, archived from the original on 9 March 2012. (in Japanese)
  11. ^ a b c d Tamano (1971), p. 101.
  12. ^ a b c Tamano (1971), p. 102.
  13. ^ 日本鉄道史 [Nippon Tetsudō-shi, Japanese Railway History], Vol. I, Tokyo: Ministry of Railways, 1921, p. 49. (in Japanese)
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j USWD (1944), p. 400.
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Renouard (1845), p. 486.
  16. ^ a b c d Iwata, Shigeo. "Weights and Measures in Japan". [1]
  17. ^ OED, "ken, n.³".
  18. ^ Renouard (1845), p. 490.
  19. ^ Matsui, Tetsuhiro (10 January 2007). "Is length of "Hiro" five shakus or six? About the length unit "Hiro" in Japanese classic boat documents". Research on the History of Metrology. 29 (1).
  20. ISBN 978-3-319-57596-4
    . Tsubo is a square ken. Gyllenbok says that the size of tatami or jo became “standardized in the Muromachi Period (1338–1573) at one ken long and half a ken wide. The ken, however, has varied over the centuries. It is now generally about 1.82m, but reaches 1.97m in the Kansai area, including the cities of Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe. Thus, one tatami is about 1.62 to 1.95m.”
  21. ^ "Isshobin | 一升瓶". UrbanSake.com.
  22. ^ Winterson Limited (April 2004). "What is a Pearl Momme?". Retrieved 7 February 2019. For these larger lots, pearls are sold by mass and the unit commonly used is the momme, a traditional Japanese unit equal to 3.75 grams. [...] For larger lots of pearls, auctioneers may use the kan, which is equal to 1,000 momme.
  23. ^ OED, "ryo, n.".
  24. ^ OED, "tael, n.".
  25. ^ Nagase-Reimer (2016), p. xiii.
  26. ^ OED, "candareen, n.".
  27. ^ OED, "momme, n.".
  28. ^ OED, "catty, n.¹".
  29. ^ OED, "picul, n.".

Bibliography

External links

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