Koku 404170 221557614 2008-06-25T01:19:16Z BRPXQZME 6225546 Don't italicize that... D: {{two other uses||the 13th century shakuhachi song|Kokū|the fictional giant|Tom Swift}} The {{nihongo3||石/石高|'''''koku'''''}} is a unit of volume in Japan, equal to ten cubic ''[[shaku]]''. In this definition, 3.5937 ''koku'' equal one cubic [[metre]], i.e. 1 ''koku'' is approximately 278.3 [[litre]]s. The ''koku'' was originally defined as a quantity of [[rice]], historically defined as enough rice to feed one [[person]] for one year (one ''[[Masu (Japanese)|masu]]'' is enough rice to feed a person for one day). A ''koku'' of rice weighs about 150 kilograms (23.6 stone or 330 pounds). In [[1891]], a smaller ''koku'' was defined such that one ''koku'' equalled exactly 240100/1331 litres, which is approximately 180.39 litres, or about 5 [[bushel]]s (40 Imperial or 48 US [[gallon]]s). During the [[Edo period]] of [[History of Japan|Japanese history]], each ''[[Han (Japan)|han]]'' (fiefdom) had an assessment of its wealth, and the ''koku'' was the [[Units of measurement|unit of measurement]]. The smallest ''han'' was 10,000 ''koku'' and [[Kaga han]], the largest (other than the [[Shogun]]), was called the "million-''koku'' domain." (Its holdings totaled around 1,025,000 ''koku'') Many [[samurai]], including ''[[hatamoto]]'', received stipends in ''koku'', while a few received salaries instead. In the [[Tōhoku Region|Tōhoku]] and [[Hokkaidō]] domains, where rice could not be grown, the economy was still measured in ''koku'' but was not adjusted from year to year. Thus some ''han'' had larger economies than their ''koku'' indicated, 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 50 ''koku'' (7.5 tons) while the biggest ships carried over 1,000 ''koku'' (150 tons). The biggest ships were actually larger than military vessels owned by the Shogunate. In the [[Meiji period]] ([[1868]]–[[1912]]), [[Japanese unit]]s such as the ''koku'' were abolished and the [[metric system]] was installed. The [[Hyakumangoku Matsuri]] (Million-Koku Festival) in [[Kanazawa, Ishikawa|Kanazawa]], [[Japan]] celebrates the arrival of Lord Maeda Toshiie into the city in 1583, although the Maeda's income was not actually raised to over a million ''koku'' until after the Battle of [[Sekigahara]] in 1600. The ''koku'' unit is still commonly used in the lumber industry in Japan. ==See also== * [[Kokudaka]] [[Category:Obsolete units of measure]] [[Category:Units of volume]] [[Category:Japanese historical terms]] [[Category:Economy of feudal Japan]] [[Category:Human-based units of measure]] {{japan-hist-stub}} [[ca:Koku]] [[cs:Koku]] [[de:Koku]] [[es:Koku]] [[fr:Koku]] [[id:Koku]] [[it:Koku]] [[lt:Koku]] [[ja:石 (単位)]] [[pl:Koku]] [[pt:Koku]] [[ru:Коку]] [[sk:Koku]] [[sv:Koku]]