koku
{{short description|Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume}}
{{for multi|the unit of time written koku {{zh|labels=no|刻}}|Traditional Chinese timekeeping|the shakuhachi song|Kokū|the fictional giant|Tom Swift|the radio station licensed to Hagåtña, Guam|KOKU|a broader description of the Chinese unit|Dan (volume)}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2019}}
{{Italic title|reason=:Category:Japanese words and phrases}}
The {{Nihongo3||斛|koku}} is a Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume. One koku is equivalent to 10 {{nihongo|to|斗}} or approximately {{convert|180|L}},{{Efn|{{convert|180|L|impbsh USbsh}}}} or about {{Convert|150|kg}} of rice. It converts, in turn, to 100 shō and 1,000 gō. One gō is the traditional volume of a single serving of rice (before cooking), used to this day for the plastic measuring cup that is supplied with commercial Japanese rice cookers.
The koku in Japan was typically used as a dry measure. The amount of rice production measured in koku was the metric by which the magnitude of a feudal domain (han) was evaluated. A feudal lord was only considered daimyō class when his domain amounted to at least 10,000 koku. As a rule of thumb, one koku was considered a sufficient quantity of rice to feed one person for one year.{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|A koku of brown rice (unpolished rice) weighs about {{convert|150|kg}}. White rice (milled rice, polished rice) weighs about the same (150g per gō). But 1 koku of brown rice would only yield 0.91 koku of milled rice (white rice) after processing ({{nihongo|seimai|精米}}), i.e., removing the rice bran). }}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Apparently 1.8 koku (1 koku and 8 to) was actually required for nourishment by a man each year, according to the conventional wisdom documented in a "home code" ({{illm|kakun{{!}}kakun|ja|家訓}}) of a certain merchant family in the Edo period.}}
The Chinese equivalent or cognate unit for capacity is the shi or dan ({{zh|p=shí, dàn|w=shih, tan|t=石}}) also known as hu ({{zh|p=hú|w=hu|t=斛|labels=no}}), now approximately 103 litres but historically about {{convert|59.44|L}}.
Chinese equivalent
The Chinese 石 dan is equal to 10 dou ({{zh|p=dǒu|w=tou|t=斗|labels=no}}) "pecks", 100 sheng ({{zh|p=shēng|w=sheng|t=升|labels=no}}) "pints". While the current dan is 103 litres in volume, the dan of the Tang dynasty (618–907) period equalled 59.44 litres.
The character 斛 hu was used interchangeably with 石 before the Tang dynasty. Since the Song dynasty it is an independent unit equal to half a dan.
Modern unit
The exact modern {{lang|ja-Latn|koku}} is calculated to be 180.39 litres, 100 times the capacity of a modern {{lang|ja-Latn|shō}}.{{Refn|name=by-def|By definition. 1 {{lang|ja-Latn|koku}} {{=}} 10 {{lang|ja-Latn|to}} {{=}} 100 {{lang|ja-Latn|shō}}.}}{{Efn|Each {{lang|ja-Latn|shō}} was determined to measure 1803.9 cubic centimetres (millilitres){{sfnp|Midorikawa|2012|page=99}} or 1.803906 litres.}} This modern {{lang|ja-Latn|koku}} is essentially defined to be the same as the {{lang|ja-Latn|koku}} from the Edo period (1600–1868),{{Efn|The Edo Period {{lang|ja-Latn|koku}} was roughly 180 litres or 5 bushels.}} namely 100 times the {{lang|ja-Latn|shō}} equal to 64,827 cubic {{lang|ja-Latn|bu}} in the traditional {{lang|ja-Latn|shakkanhō}} measuring system.{{Refn|{{illm|Weights and Measures Act (Japan)|ja|度量衡法|display=1}} (1891).}}
= Origin of the modern unit =
The {{nihongo|kyō-masu|京枡||"Kyoto {{lang|ja-Latn|masu}}"}}, the semi-official one {{lang|ja-Latn|shō}} measuring box since the late 16th century under Daimyo Nobunaga, began to be made in a different (larger) size in the early Edo period, sometime during the 1620s.{{sfnp|Amano|1979|page=10–13}} Its dimensions, given in the traditional Japanese {{lang|ja-Latn|shaku}} length unit system, were 4 {{lang|ja-Latn|sun}} 9 {{lang|ja-Latn|bu}} square times 2 {{lang|ja-Latn|sun}} 7 {{lang|ja-Latn|bu}} depth.{{Efn|{{lang|ja-Latn|sun}} {{=}} {{frac|10}} {{lang|ja-Latn|shaku}} and {{lang|ja-Latn|bu}} {{=}} {{frac|100}} {{lang|ja-Latn|shaku}} respectively.}}{{sfnp|Amano|1979|page=10–13}} Its volume, which could be calculated by multiplication was:{{r|by-def}}
1 {{lang|ja-Latn|koku}} = 100 {{lang|ja-Latn|shō}} = 100 × (49 {{lang|ja-Latn|bu}} × 49 {{lang|ja-Latn|bu}} × 27 {{lang|ja-Latn|bu}}) = 100 × 64,827 cubic {{lang|ja-Latn|bu}}{{sfnp|Amano|1979|page=10–13}}{{Efn|Also {{=}}100 × 64.827 cubic {{lang|ja-Latn|sun}}.}}
Although this was referred to as {{lang|ja-Latn|shin kyō-masu}} or the "new" measuring cup in its early days,{{sfnp|Amano|1979|page=10–13}} its use supplanted the old measure in most areas in Japan, until the only place still left using the old cup ("{{lang|ja-Latn|edo-masu}}") was the city of Edo, and the Edo government passed an edict declaring the {{lang|ja-Latn|kyō-masu}} the official nationwide measure standard in 1669 (Kanbun 9).
= Modern measurement enactment =
When the 1891 Japanese {{illm|Weights and Measures Act (Japan){{!}}Weights and Measures Act|ja|度量衡法|display=1}} was promulgated, it defined the {{lang|ja-Latn|shō}} unit as the capacity of the standard {{lang|ja-Latn|kyo-masu}} of 64827 cubic {{lang|ja-Latn|bu}}. The same act also defined the {{lang|ja-Latn|shaku}} length as {{frac|10|33}} metre. The metric equivalent of the modern {{lang|ja-Latn|shō}} is {{frac|2401|1331}} litres. The modern {{lang|ja-Latn|koku}} is therefore {{frac|240,100|1331}} litres, or 180.39 litres.{{harvp|Midorikawa|2012|page=99}}: "1,803.9 cm3".
The modern {{lang|ja-Latn|shaku}} defined here is set to equal the so-called {{lang|ja-Latn|setchū-shaku}} ({{lang|ja-Latn|setchū-jaku}} or "compromise {{lang|ja-Latn|shaku}}"), measuring 302.97 mm, a middle-ground value between two different {{lang|ja-Latn|kane-jaku}} standards.{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Between the common people's {{lang|ja-Latn|Matashiro-jaku}}, 302.37 mm and the {{lang|ja-Latn|italic=no|bakufu}}'s official {{lang|ja-Latn|Kyōho-jaku}} 303.36 mm. The {{lang|ja-Latn|matashirō-jaku}} {{lang|ja|又四郎尺}} devised by a carpenter is a type of the carpentry scale was the commoner's type of {{nihongo||曲尺|kane-jaku/kyoku-jaku/magari-jaku}}.{{sfn|JWMA|1978|p=25}}}} A researcher has pointed out that the ({{lang|ja-Latn|shin}}) {{illm|kyō-masu{{!}}{{lang|ja-Latn|cat=no|kyō-masu}}|ja|京枡}} cups ought to have used {{lang|ja-Latn|take-jaku}} which were 0.2% longer.{{sfnp|Midorikawa|2012|page=99}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|One type of {{lang|ja-Latn|take-jaku}} is the aforementioned {{lang|ja-Latn|Kyōho-jaku}}{{sfn|JWMA|1978|p=1}} which came into use in the Kyoho era (1716-1736).}} However, the actual measuring cups in use did not quite attain the {{lang|ja-Latn|take shaku}} metric, and when the Japanese Ministry of Finance had collected actual samples of {{lang|ja-Latn|masu}} from the {{illm|masu-za|ja|枡座}} (measuring-cup guilds) of both eastern and western Japan, they found that the measurements were close to the average of {{lang|ja-Latn|take-jaku}} and {{lang|ja-Latn|kane-jaku}}.{{harvp|JWMA|1978|p=2}}: "The results of measuring original vessels at both the East and West {{lang|ja-Latn|italic=no|Masu-za}} yielded (a value) near the average of {{lang|ja-Latn|take-jaku}} and {{lang|ja-Latn|magari-jaku}} ({{=}}{{lang|ja-Latn|kane-jaku}}) {{lang|ja|東西両桝座の原器の測定結果では、竹尺と曲り尺の平均した長さに近}}".
= Lumber koku =
The "lumber {{lang|ja-Latn|koku}}" or "maritime {{lang|ja-Latn|koku}}" is defined as equal to 10 cubic Shaku (unit) in the lumber or shipping industry, compared with the standard {{lang|ja-Latn|koku}} measures 6.48 cubic {{lang|ja-Latn|shaku}}. A lumber {{lang|ja-Latn|koku}} is conventionally accepted as equivalent to 120 board feet, but in practice may convert to less. In metric measures 1 lumber {{lang|ja-Latn|koku}} is about {{convert|278.3|L}}.
Historic use
{{More citations needed section|date=May 2015}}
The exact measure now in use was devised around the 1620s, but not officially adopted for all of Japan until the Kanbun era (1660s).
= Feudal Japan =
Under the Tokugawa shogunate (1603–1868) of the Edo period of Japanese history, each feudal domain had an assessment of its potential income known as kokudaka (production yield) which in part determined its order of precedence at the Shogunal court. The smallest kokudaka to qualify the fief-holder for the title of daimyō was 10,000 koku (worth {{JPYConvert|705528600|usd|lk=on|year=2016}}){{cite web|title=Shōhisha bukka shisū (CPI) kekka |script-title=ja:消費者物価指数 (CPI) 結果|trans-title=Consumer Price Index (CPI) results |url=http://www.e-stat.go.jp/SG1/estat/Csvdl.do?sinfid=000011288549 |website=Statistics Bureau of Japan |publisher=Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications |access-date=14 April 2018|language=ja |format=CSV}} and Kaga han, the largest fief (other than that of the shōgun), was called the "million-koku domain". Its holdings totaled around 1.025 million koku (worth {{JPYConvert|72300000000|USD|lk=on|year=2016}}). Many samurai, including hatamoto (a high-ranking samurai), received stipends in koku, while a few received salaries instead.
The kokudaka was reported in terms of brown rice (genmai) in most places, with the exception of the land ruled by the Satsuma clan which reported in terms of unhusked or non-winnowed rice ({{nihongo|momi|籾}}. Since this practice had persisted, past Japanese rice production statistics need to be adjusted for comparison with other countries that report production by milled or polished rice.
Even in certain parts of the Tōhoku region or Ezo (Hokkaidō), where rice could not be grown, the economy was still measured in terms of koku, with other crops and produce converted to their equivalent value in terms of rice. The kokudaka was not adjusted from year to year, and thus some fiefs had larger economies than their nominal koku indicated, due to land reclamation and new rice field development, which allowed them to fund development projects.
== As measure of cargo ship class ==
Koku was also used to measure how much a ship could carry when all its loads were rice. Smaller ships carried 50 koku ({{convert|7.5|t|disp=comma}}) while the biggest ships carried over 1,000 koku ({{convert|150|t|disp=comma}}). The biggest ships were larger than military vessels owned by the shogunate.
In popular culture
The Hyakumangoku Matsuri (Million-Koku Festival) in Kanazawa, Japan celebrates the arrival of daimyō Maeda Toshiie into the city in 1583, although Maeda's income was not raised to over a million koku until after the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600.
In fiction
The James Clavell novel Shōgun uses the Koku measure extensively as a plot device by many of the main characters as a method of reward, punishment and enticement. While fiction, it shows the importance of the fief, the rice measure and payments.
Explanatory notes
{{notelist}}
References
;Citations
{{reflist|30em|refs=
{{cite book|last=Andoh |first=Elizabeth |author-link= |title=Washoku: Recipes from the Japanese Home Kitchen: A Cookbook |publisher=Ten Speed Press |year=2012 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lziyA6pHdxEC&pg=PA136 |page=136|isbn=978-0-307-81355-8 }}
{{cite dictionary|last=Cardarelli |first=François |author-link= |translator=M.J. Shields |title=3.5.2.4.13.3 Old Japanese Units of Capacity |dictionary=Encyclopaedia of Scientific Units, Weights and Measure |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |year=2003 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6KCx8Ww75VkC&pg=PA151 |page=151|isbn=1-85233-682-X}}
Weights and Measures in Japan: Past and Present (1914), pp. 18–19: "The setchū-shaku.. [which] Inō Chūkei.. invented.. a mean between the matashirō-shaku and the kyōho-shaku, and was therefore called the measure of setchū (compromise). The length is the same as that of the present shaku".
{{cite book|last=Curtin |first=Philip D. |author-link=Philip D. Curtin |title=The World and the West: The European Challenge and the Overseas Response in the Age of Empire |publisher=Cambridge University Press |edition=revised |year=2002 |orig-year=2000 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b_7LxwgocpIC&pg=PA159 |page=159 |isbn=0-52189-054-3}}
{{cite book|last=Francks|first= Penelope |author-link= |title=Rural Economic Development in Japan: From the Nineteenth Century to the Pacific War |publisher=Routledge |year=2006 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vqR-AgAAQBAJ&pg=PT17 |page=xvii|isbn=1-134-20786-7}}
{{cite book|editor-last1=Hayek |editor-first1=Matthias |editor-link= |editor-last2=Horiuchi |editor-first2=Annick |editor-link2=Annick Horiuchi|title=Listen, Copy, Read: Popular Learning in Early Modern Japan |publisher=BRILL |year=2014|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zWLPBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA195 |page=195, note 39 |isbn=978-9-00427-972-8}}
{{cite book|last=Perdue |first=Peter C. |author-link=Peter C. Perdue |title=China Marches West|publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2005 |url=https://archive.org/details/chinamarcheswest00pete |url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/chinamarcheswest00pete/page/598 598]|isbn=0-674-01684-X}}
{{cite journal|last=Ramseyer |first=Mark J. |author-link= |title=Thrift and Diligence; Home Codes of Tokugawa Merchat Families |journal=Monumenta Nipponica |volume=34 |number=2 |publisher=Sophia University |year=1979 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mgdDAAAAYAAJ |page=224|doi=10.2307/2384323 |jstor=2384323 |url-access=subscription }}
{{cite book|last=Rose |first=Beth |author-link= |title=Appendix to the Rice Economy of Asia |publisher=Routledge |year=2016 |orig-year=1985 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZJXDCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA84 |page=84 |isbn=978-1-31733-947-2}}
{{cite journal|last=Wittfogel |first=Karl A. |author-link= |title=Financial Difficulties of The Edo Bakufu |journal=Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies |volume=1 |number=3/4 |publisher=Sophia University |year=1936 |page=314, note 26}} {{JSTOR|2717787}}
{{cite book|last=Totman |first=Conrad D. |author-link= |title=The Green Archipelago: Forestry in Preindustrial Japan |year=1989|publisher=University of California Press |url=https://archive.org/details/greenarchipelago0000totm |url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/greenarchipelago0000totm/page/228 228], note 37 |isbn=0-52006-313-9}}
{{cite journal|last1=Wittfogel |first1=Karl A. |author-link=Karl A. Wittfogel |last2=Fêng |first2=Chia-Shêng |author-link2= |title=History of Chinese Society Liao (907-1125) |journal=Transactions of the American Philosophical Society |volume=36|publisher=Sophia University |year=1946 |page=609|doi=10.2307/1005570 |jstor=1005570 }} {{JSTOR|1005570}}
{{cite journal|last=Yamaguchi |first=Tomoko 山口智子 |author-link= |title=Mushi kamado de taita beihan no bussei to oishisa no hyōka |script-title=ja:蒸しかまどで炊いた米飯の物性とおいしさの評価 |trans-title=Evaluation of physical properties and taste of rice cooked by steamed rice cooker, Mushikamado |journal=Bulletin of the Faculty of Education. Natural Sciences |volume=34 |number=2 |publisher=Niigata University |year=2017 |url=http://dspace.lib.niigata-u.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/10191/49430/1/10(1)_83-90.pdf |page=224}}
}}
;Bibliography
{{Refbegin}}
- {{citation|last=Amano |first=Kiyoshi 天野 清 |author-link= |title=Kyōmasu to Edomasu |script-title=ja:京枡と江戸枡 |journal=Keiryōshi Kenkyū: Journal of the Society of Historical Metrology, Japan |volume=1 |number=1|year=1979 |url=http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/10631742 |pages=10–19 |language=ja}}
- {{citation|ref={{SfnRef|CBWM|1914}}|author=Central Bureau of Weights and Measures The Department of Agriculture and Commerce in Japan
|title=Weights and Measures in Japan: Past and Present |publisher= |year=1914|hdl=2027/uc1.$c174918
}}
- {{citation|ref={{SfnRef|JWMA|1978}}|author=JWMA (Japan Weights and Measures Association) 日本計量協会 |title=Keiryō hyakunen-shi |script-title=ja:計量百年史 |publisher= |year=1978 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vdmgAAAAMAAJ }}
- {{citation|last=Midorikawa |first=Kazuo 水鳥川和夫 |author-link= |title=Chūsei higashi nihon ni okeru shiyō masu no yōseki to hyōjun masu |script-title=ja:中世東日本における使用升の容積と標準升 |trans-title=Volume of used masu and standard masu in medieval eastern Japan |journal=Shakai keizai shigaku |volume=78 |number=1|year=2012 |url=https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/sehs/78/1/78_KJ00008128138/_pdf/-char/ja |pages=99–118 |language=ja}}
{{Refend}}
{{Japanese architectural elements}}
{{Means of Exchange}}
Category:Economy of feudal Japan
Category:Human-based units of measurement
Category:Japanese historical terms