Traditional Japanese Measurements: Shaku, Sun, Monme and More

Japan adopted the metric system in the twentieth century, but the old units survive everywhere in the world of craft: on box inscriptions, in the sizes of scrolls and bonsai pots, in the capacity of sake flasks and in the weight of pearls. This reference gives the units you are most likely to meet.

Length

Unit Characters Metric Notes
Bu 分 about 3.03 mm one tenth of a sun
Sun 寸 about 3.03 cm one tenth of a shaku
Shaku 尺 about 30.3 cm the carpenter's foot, used for most objects
Kimono shaku 鯨尺 about 37.9 cm a longer foot used for cloth and kimono
Ken 間 about 1.82 m six shaku, used in architecture

A box inscribed 尺二寸 describes something one shaku and two sun long, about 36 centimetres. Bonsai pots and flower vases are still often described in sun.

Area

  • Jō. The area of one tatami mat, roughly 1.6 square metres, though mat sizes vary by region. Rooms are described as six-mat or eight-mat rooms.
  • Tsubo. About 3.3 square metres, roughly two tatami mats, used for floor and land area.

Volume

  • Gō. About 180 millilitres. Sake is still served by the gō, and a tokkuri flask may be described as one or two gō.
  • Shō. Ten gō, about 1.8 litres. The large sake bottle, isshōbin, holds one shō.
  • To. Ten shō, about 18 litres.

Weight

  • Monme. 3.75 grams. Pearls are still traded by the monme worldwide, often written momme.
  • Kan. One thousand monme, 3.75 kilograms.
  • Kin. About 600 grams, still used for loaves of bread in Japan.

Tips for collectors

  • Measurements on old boxes describe the object, the box or sometimes the mounting. Check which before relying on them.
  • Kimono measurements use the longer cloth shaku, so a kimono length in shaku converts differently from a scroll length.
  • Our descriptions always give measurements in centimetres, with weights in grams or kilograms.

Related references

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