Koku

Template:Short description Template:For multi Template:Use British English Template:Italic title The Template:Nihongo3 is a Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume. One koku is equivalent to 10 Template:Nihongo or approximately Template:Convert,Template:Efn<ref name=hayek&horiuchi/> or Template:Convert of rice. It converts, in turn, to 100 shō and 1,000 gō.<ref name=cardarelli/> 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.<ref name=andoh/>

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.<ref name=curtin/> A feudal lord was only considered daimyō class when his domain amounted to at least 10,000 koku.<ref name=curtin/> As a rule of thumb, one koku was considered a sufficient quantity of rice to feed one person for one year.<ref name=francks/>Template:RefnTemplate:Refn

The Chinese equivalent or cognate unit for capacity is the shi or dan (Template:Zh) also known as hu (Template:Zh), now approximately 103 litres but historically about Template:Convert.

Chinese equivalent

The Chinese 石 dan is equal to 10 dou (Template:Zh) "pecks", 100 sheng (Template:Zh) "pints".<ref name=wittfogel&feng/> While the current dan is 103 litres in volume,<ref name=perdue/> the dan of the Tang dynasty (618–907) period equalled 59.44 litres.<ref name=wittfogel&feng/>

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 Template:Lang is calculated to be 180.39 litres, 100 times the capacity of a modern Template:Lang.Template:RefnTemplate:Efn This modern Template:Lang is essentially defined to be the same as the Template:Lang from the Edo period (1600–1868),Template:Efn namely 100 times the Template:Lang equal to 64,827 cubic Template:Lang in the traditional Template:Lang measuring system.Template:Refn

Origin of the modern unit

The Template:Nihongo, the semi-official one Template:Lang measuring box since the late 16th century under Daimyo Nobunaga,<ref name=yamamura/> began to be made in a different (larger) size in the early Edo period, sometime during the 1620s.Template:Sfnp Its dimensions, given in the traditional Japanese Template:Lang length unit system, were 4 Template:Lang 9 Template:Lang square times 2 Template:Lang 7 Template:Lang depth.Template:EfnTemplate:Sfnp<ref name=japon-expo-1878/> Its volume, which could be calculated by multiplication was:Template:R

1 Template:Lang = 100 Template:Lang = 100 × (49 Template:Lang × 49 Template:Lang × 27 Template:Lang) = 100 × 64,827 cubic Template:LangTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Efn

Although this was referred to as Template:Lang or the "new" measuring cup in its early days,Template:Sfnp its use supplanted the old measure in most areas in Japan, until the only place still left using the old cup ("Template:Lang") was the city of Edo,<ref name=nihonkeizaishi1-p103/> and the Edo government passed an edict declaring the Template:Lang the official nationwide measure standard<ref name=yamamura/> in 1669 (Kanbun 9).<ref name=nihonkeizaishi1-p103/>

Modern measurement enactment

When the 1891 Japanese Template:Illm was promulgated, it defined the Template:Lang unit as the capacity of the standard Template:Lang of 64827 cubic Template:Lang.<ref name=nihonshakai-jii/> The same act also defined the Template:Lang length as Template:Frac metre.<ref name=nihonshakai-jii/> The metric equivalent of the modern Template:Lang is Template:Frac litres.<ref name=koizumi-dict-rev4/> The modern Template:Lang is therefore Template:Frac litres, or 180.39 litres.<ref>Template:Harvp: "1,803.9 cm³".</ref>

The modern Template:Lang defined here is set to equal the so-called Template:Lang (Template:Lang or "compromise Template:Lang"),<ref name=cbwb-p018/> measuring 302.97 mm, a middle-ground value between two different Template:Lang standards.Template:Refn<ref name=seisen-setchu-jaku/><ref name=cbwb-p018/> A researcher has pointed out that the (Template:Lang) Template:Illm cups ought to have used Template:Lang which were 0.2% longer.Template:SfnpTemplate:Refn However, the actual measuring cups in use did not quite attain the Template:Lang metric, and when the Japanese Ministry of Finance had collected actual samples of Template:Lang from the Template:Illm (measuring-cup guilds) of both eastern and western Japan, they found that the measurements were close to the average of Template:Lang and Template:Lang.<ref>Template:Harvp: "The results of measuring original vessels at both the East and West Template:Lang yielded (a value) near the average of Template:Lang and Template:Lang (=Template:Lang) Template:Lang".</ref>

Lumber koku

The "lumber Template:Lang" or "maritime Template:Lang" is defined as equal to 10 cubic [[Shaku (unit)|Template:Lang]] in the lumber or shipping industry,<ref name=totman/> compared with the standard Template:Lang measures 6.48 cubic Template:Lang.<ref name=rose/> A lumber Template:Lang is conventionally accepted as equivalent to 120 board feet, but in practice may convert to less.<ref name=us-forest-svc/> In metric measures 1 lumber Template:Lang is about Template:Convert.

Historic use

Template:More citations needed section 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 Template:JPYConvert)<ref name="Statistics Bureau of Japan">Template:Cite web</ref> 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 Template:JPYConvert). 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 (Template:Nihongo.<ref name=kurihara/> 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.<ref name=rose/>

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.<ref name="Beasley"/> 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 (Template:Convert) while the biggest ships carried over 1,000 koku (Template:Convert). 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.

References

Citations

Bibliography

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