The ken () is a traditional Japanese unit of length, equal to six Japanese feet (shaku). The exact value has varied over time and location but has generally been a little shorter than 2 meters (6 ft 7 in).[1][2] It is now standardized as 1.82 m.[3]
Although mostly supplanted by the metric system, this unit is a common measurement in Japanese architecture, where it is used as a proportion for the intervals between the pillars of traditional-style buildings. In this context, it is commonly translated as "bay". The length also appears in other contexts, such as the standard length of the bō staff in Japanese martial arts and the standard dimensions of the tatami mats. As these are used to cover the floors of most Japanese houses, floor surfaces are still commonly measured not in square meters but in "tatami" which are equivalent to half of a square ken.
This kanji graphically combines "door" and "sun". The earlier variant character was written with "moon" rather than "sun", depicting "A door through the crevice of which the moonshine peeps in".[4]
The diverse Japanese pronunciations of include on''yomi Sino-Chinese readings (from jian or "room; between; gap; interval") of kan "interval; space; between; among; discord; favorable opportunity" or ken "six feet"; and kun''yomi native Japanese readings of ai "interval; between; medium; crossbred", aida or awai "space; interval; gap; between; among; midway; on the way; distance; time; period; relationship", or ma "space; room; interval; pause; rest (in music); time; a while; leisure; luck; timing; harmony".[5]
The ken is based on the Chinese jian. It uses the same Chinese character as the Korean kan.
The value of a ken could change from building to building, but was usually kept constant within the same structure. There can however be exceptions. Kasuga Taisha''s tiny honden''s dimensions, for example, are 1×1 in ken, but 1.9×2.6 in meters.[1] In the case of Izumo Taisha''s honden, a ken is 6.32 m (20.7 ft), well above its standard value.[7]
The distance between pillars was standardized very early and started being used as a unit of measurement. Land area in particular was measured using the ken as a basis. The unit was born out of the necessity to measure land surface to calculate taxes. At the time of Toyotomi Hideyoshi (16th century), the ken was about 1.97 m (6.5 ft), but around 1650 the Tokugawa shogunate reduced it to 1.818 m (5.96 ft) specifically to increase taxes. After the Edo period, the ken started to be called kyōma ().[1][2]
Shaku (Japanese: ) or Japanese foot[1][2] is a Japanese unit of length derived (but varying) from the Chinese chi, originally based upon the distance measured by a human hand from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the forefinger[3][a] (compare span). Traditionally, the length varied by location or use, but it is now standardized as 10/33 m, or approximately 30.3 centimeters (11.9 in).
Shaku entered English in the early 18th century,[4] a romanization of the Japanese Go-on reading of the character for Japanese foot (, shaku).
In Japanese media parlance, shaku refers to screen time: the amount of time someone or something is shown on screen (similar to the English "footage").[9]
Traditionally, the actual length of the shaku varied over time, location, and use. By the early 19th century, the shaku was largely within the range of 0.30175 to 0.303 meters (11.880 in to 11.929 in),[1] but a longer value of the shaku (also known as the kōrai-shaku) was also known, and was 1.17 times longer than the present value (35.5 centimeters or 14.0 inches).[7][2]
Another shaku variant was used for measuring cloth, which measured 125⁄330 meters (37.9 centimeters or 14.9 inches), and was known as the "whale shaku" (, kujirajaku), as baleen (whale whiskers) were used as cloth rulers.
To distinguish the two variants of shaku, the general unit was known as the "metal shaku" (/, kanejaku).[6] The Shōsōin treasure house in Nara preserves some antique ivory one-shaku rulers, known as the kōgebachiru-no-shaku ().[10][11]
Just as with the Chinese unit, the shaku is divided into ten smaller units, known as sun () in Japanese, and ten shaku together form a larger unit known in Japanese as a jō (). The Japanese also had a third derived unit, the ken, equal to six shaku; this was used extensively in traditional Japanese architecture as the distance between supporting pillars in Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines.[2]
Ten cubic shaku comprised a koku, reckoned as the amount of rice necessary to sustain a peasant for a year.
The Japanese shaku also forms the basis of the modern Taiwanese foot.
In 1902, the Korean Empire adopted the Japanese definition of the shaku as that of the ja (자). [citation needed]
All countries that once used the Shakkanho have changed their unit systems to the International Unit System, with the result that not a single country officially uses units of Shakkanho at present. However, private sectors in China and South Korea still use the units of Shakkanho. Japan now uses the units of the International Unit System, but it generally uses the shaku as a basic scale for designing Japanese-style houses, regarding the shaku as a scale appropriate to Japanese living environment. However, blueprints are drawn up by using the metric system.
Exceptionally, a unit ''monme'' (or momme) is globally used as an international unit for dealing with pearl because of the confusions resulted from inconsistent unit systems: The diameter of a pearl was written in centimeter, the length of necklaces and others was in inch, the mass was in gram. In the fields of architecture and real estate, ''tsubo'' (1 tsubo corresponds to a space of two Japanese tatami mats) is informally but regularly used as a unit for showing the size of land and floor. However, the unit ''tsubo'' is prohibited from using directly in real estate transaction. In showing the price of 1 tsubo when a house is constructed, for example, it is written as ''some thousand yen per 3.3 square meters'' instead of ''some thousand yen per 1 tsubo.''
Length and distanceThe basic unit of length and distance (''measures'' of the weights and measures system) is shaku. It is believed that other units came into existence separately from the shaku. However, they were connected with the shaku later, defined as unit equivalent to integral multiples of shaku or integral divisions of shaku.
The unit length of the shaku varies according to the periods and the regions. Moreover, even in the same period, several types of shaku with different unit length were simultaneously used for different purposes. Two kinds of units with the shaku remain in Japan of today, one is kane-jaku (generally called ''shaku'' simply) and the other is kujira-jaku whose unit length of the shaku is 1.25 times longer than that of the kane-jaku. Refer to the article of shaku for details.
As for the unit of ken, The Weights and Measures Act promulgated in the Meiji period definitely provides that 1 ken is equal to 6 shaku. The ken used to only provide the module in construction works before the act was promulgated. When ''ken'' was used, it was inevitable to express the length in the units of shaku and sun, because ''ken'' had no special rule but ''it is almost equal to 6 shaku.''
Besides the unit system of shaku, a unit ''mon'' that was based on the diameter of the coin (Kanei Tsuho) was also used for measuring length. The diameter of 1 mon coin was fixed at almost 24 millimeter (8 bu) although there were some margins of error depending on the periods. The mon was used as a unit for measuring foot size and shoe size. 10 mon is equivalent to about 24 centimeters.
Area and acreageLike the metric system, the unit of area is represented by the square of the unit of length as follows: ''Hosun'' (the square sun), ''hoshaku'' (the square shaku) and ''hojo'' (the square jo).
Meanwhile, the special unit is used for acreage. The basic unit of acreage is tsubo or bu (). 1 tsubo or 1 bu equals the area of a square with a side 6 shaku long, namely 36 square shaku.
1 cho, 1 tan, and 1 se extremely approximates 1 hectare, 10 are, and 1 are, respectively (practically, it is possible to use the verb "equals" instead of "approximates"). Therefore, the units of acreage were easily switched to the units of the metric system in Japan, while it was a quite difficult task for Western countries. However, it is difficult to convert the tsubo into the units of the metric system by integral multiples, so that the tsubo alone is still used. Instead of using either the go or the shaku, the acreage is shown only by the tsubo with the decimal fraction. Without using the unit of bu, the acreage of the fields and the mountains and forest are represented in are and square meter.
For fields, mountains, and forests, even though the acreage is capable of being represented only by the units of cho, tan, and se, ''bu'' is usually applied to the end of those units so as to clarify the value is even. For instance, ''3 chobu'' is used instead of ''3 cho.''Furthermore, 2 cho and 4 tanbu, and 6 tan and 8 sebu are good examples. For representing larger acreage than that by the cho, a unit ''hori'' (a square ri; 1555.2 cho is nearly equal to 15.423 square kilometers) is used; 1 hori equals the area of a square with a side 1 ri (3,927 meters).
VolumeThe basic unit of volume and capacity (''measures'' of the weights and measures system) is sho (today, approximately 1.8 liters). The unit volume or capacity of the sho differs greatly according to the periods and the regions (refer to the article of sho for details), however correlation between the sho and other units has hardly changed from ancient times. It was the Edo period that the unit volume or capacity of the sho was fixed at the current value.
As for measuring the volume of earth and sand, a unit ryutsubo (or tsubo in abbreviation) is used; 1 ryutsubo is equal to 6 cubic shaku. Moreover, 1 cubic shaku is also called 1 sai.
MassAt present, the basic unit of mass (''weights'' of the weights and measures system) is kan. The Weights and Measures Act promulgated in 1891 provided that the unit mass of kan is equal to 15 over 4 of the international kilogram standard (namely, 15 over 4 kilograms or 3.75 kilograms).
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