Thekoku (斛) is a Chinese-basedJapanese unit of volume. One koku is equivalent to 10to (斗) or approximately 180 litres (40 imp gal; 48 US gal),[a][1] or 150 kilograms (330 lb) ofrice. It converts, in turn, to 100shō and 1,000gō.[2] Onegō 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 Japaneserice cookers.[3]
Thekoku in Japan was typically used as adry measure. The amount of rice production measured inkoku was the metric by which the magnitude of afeudal domain (han) was evaluated.[4] A feudal lord was only considereddaimyō class when his domain amounted to at least 10,000koku.[4] As arule of thumb, onekoku was considered a sufficient quantity of rice to feed one person for one year.[5][b][c]
The Chinese equivalent or cognate unit for capacity is theshi ordan (Chinese:石;pinyin:shí, dàn;Wade–Giles:shih, tan) also known ashu (斛;hú;hu), now approximately 103 litres but historically about 59.44 litres (13.07 imp gal; 15.70 US gal).
The Chinese 石dan is equal to 10dou (斗;dǒu;tou) "pecks", 100sheng (升;shēng;sheng) "pints".[9] While the currentdan is 103 litres in volume,[10] thedan of theTang dynasty (618–907) period equalled 59.44 litres.[9]
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 adan.
The exact modernkoku is calculated to be 180.39 litres, 100 times the capacity of a modernshō.[11][d] This modernkoku is essentially defined to be the same as thekoku from theEdo period (1600–1868),[e] namely 100 times theshō equal to 64,827 cubicbu in the traditionalshakkanhō measuring system.[16]
Thekyō-masu (京枡; "Kyotomasu"), the semi-official oneshō measuring box since the late 16th century under DaimyoNobunaga,[17] began to be made in a different (larger) size in the early Edo period, sometime during the 1620s.[18] Its dimensions, given in the traditional Japaneseshaku length unit system, were 4sun 9bu square times 2sun 7bu depth.[f][18][13] Its volume, which could be calculated by multiplication was:[11]
1koku = 100shō = 100 × (49bu × 49bu × 27bu) = 100 × 64,827 cubicbu[18][g]
Although this was referred to asshin kyō-masu or the "new" measuring cup in its early days,[18] its use supplanted the old measure in most areas in Japan, until the only place still left using the old cup ("edo-masu") was the city ofEdo,[19] and the Edo government passed anedict declaring thekyō-masu the official nationwide measure standard[17] in 1669 (Kanbun 9).[19]
When the 1891 JapaneseWeights and Measures Act [ja] was promulgated, it defined theshō unit as the capacity of the standardkyo-masu of 64827 cubicbu.[15] The same act also defined theshaku length as10⁄33 metre.[15] The metric equivalent of the modernshō is2401⁄1331 litres.[20] The modernkoku is therefore240,100⁄1331 litres, or 180.39 litres.[21]
The modernshaku defined here is set to equal the so-calledsetchū-shaku (setchū-jaku or "compromiseshaku"),[22] measuring 302.97 mm, a middle-ground value between two differentkane-jaku standards.[h][23][22] A researcher has pointed out that the (shin)kyō-masu [ja] cups ought to have usedtake-jaku which were 0.2% longer.[12][i] However, the actual measuring cups in use did not quite attain thetake shaku metric, and when the Japanese Ministry of Finance had collected actual samples ofmasu from themasu-za [ja] (measuring-cupguilds) of both eastern and western Japan, they found that the measurements were close to the average oftake-jaku andkane-jaku.[28]
The "lumberkoku" or "maritimekoku" is defined as equal to 10 cubicshaku in the lumber or shipping industry,[29] compared with the standardkoku measures 6.48 cubicshaku.[6] A lumberkoku is conventionally accepted as equivalent to 120board feet, but in practice may convert to less.[30] In metric measures 1 lumberkoku is about 278.3 litres (61.2 imp gal; 73.5 US gal).
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The exact measure now in use was devised around the 1620s, but not officially adopted for all of Japan until theKanbun era (1660s).
Under theTokugawa shogunate (1603–1868) of the Edo period ofJapanese history, eachfeudal domain had an assessment of its potential income known askokudaka (production yield) which in part determined its order of precedence at the Shogunal court. The smallestkokudaka to qualify the fief-holder for the title ofdaimyō was 10,000koku (worth¥705.53 million (2016) (equivalent to¥719.91 million or US$6.6 million in 2019)[31])[32] andKaga han, the largest fief (other than that of theshōgun), was called the "million-koku domain". Its holdings totaled around 1.025 millionkoku (worth¥72.3billion (2016) (equivalent to¥73.77billion or US$676.77 million in 2019)[31]). Manysamurai, includinghatamoto (a high-ranking samurai), received stipends inkoku, while a few received salaries instead.
Thekokudaka was reported in terms ofbrown rice (genmai) in most places, with the exception of the land ruled by theSatsuma clan which reported in terms of unhusked or non-winnowed rice (momi (籾).[33] Since this practice had persisted, past Japanese rice production statistics need to be adjusted for comparison with other countries that report production bymilled orpolished rice.[6]
Even in certain parts of theTōhoku region orEzo (Hokkaidō), where rice could not be grown, the economy was still measured in terms ofkoku, with other crops and produce converted to their equivalent value in terms of rice.[34] Thekokudaka was not adjusted from year to year, and thus some fiefs had larger economies than their nominalkoku indicated, due to land reclamation and new rice field development, which allowed them to fund development projects.
Koku was also used to measure how much a ship could carry when all its loads were rice. Smaller ships carried 50koku (7.5 tonnes, 7.4 long tons, 8.3 short tons) while the biggest ships carried over 1,000koku (150 tonnes, 150 long tons, 170 short tons). The biggest ships were larger than military vessels owned by the shogunate.
TheHyakumangoku Matsuri (Million-Koku Festival) inKanazawa, Japan celebrates the arrival ofdaimyōMaeda Toshiie into the city in 1583, although Maeda's income was not raised to over a millionkoku until after theBattle of Sekigahara in 1600.
TheJames Clavell novelShōgun 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.
升 六萬四千八百二十七立方分
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