Unidades de medida japonesas

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Las unidades de medida tradicionales japonesas o shakkanhō (尺 貫 法, " sistema shaku-kan ") es el sistema tradicional de medida utilizado por la gente del archipiélago japonés . Se basa en gran medida en el sistema chino , que se extendió a Japón y al resto de la Sinosfera en la antigüedad. Se ha mantenido prácticamente inalterado desde la adopción de las medidas de la dinastía Tang en 701. ^[1] Tras la Restauración Meiji de 1868 , el Japón imperial adoptó el sistema métrico.y definió las unidades tradicionales en términos métricos sobre la base de un prototipo de metro y kilogramo . Los valores actuales de la mayoría de las unidades de medida coreanas y taiwanesas también se derivan de estos valores, debido a sus ocupaciones por parte de los japoneses. ^{[ cita requerida ]}

Durante un tiempo, a principios del siglo XX , los sistemas tradicional, métrico e inglés eran todos legales en Japón. Aunque desde entonces el comercio ha estado legalmente restringido al uso del sistema métrico, el sistema antiguo todavía se usa en algunos casos. Las medidas antiguas son habituales en la carpintería y la agricultura , con herramientas como cinceles , espadas, sierras y martillos fabricados en tamaños sol y bu . El espacio de suelo se expresa en términos de tatamis y la tierra se vende sobre la base del precio en tsubo . Muchas ollas arroceras se venden con tazas medidoras de 1 go . ^{[ cita requerida ]}

Historia

Las unidades japonesas tradicionales son una adaptación local del sistema chino tradicional , que fue adoptado en una fecha muy temprana. Fueron impuestos y ajustados en varias ocasiones por los estatutos locales e imperiales. Los detalles del sistema han variado a lo largo del tiempo y la ubicación en la historia de Japón. ^{[ cita requerida ]}

Japón firmó el Tratado del Metro en 1885, y sus términos entraron en vigor en 1886. ^[2] Recibió su prototipo de metro y kilogramo de la Oficina Internacional de Pesas y Medidas en 1890. ^[2] Al año siguiente, a pesos y medidas la ley codificó el sistema japonés, tomando sus unidades fundamentales como shaku y kan y derivando las demás de ellas. ^[2] La ley codificó los valores de las unidades métricas y tradicionales en términos entre sí, ^[2] pero retuvo las unidades tradicionales como estándar formal y los valores métricos como secundarios. ^[3]

1891 definiciones

Unidad		Definición	Conversiones
Romanizado	Kanji
Largo		metros	metros	pies
shaku	尺	10 ⁄ 33	0.3030	0,9942
Área		metros cuadrados	metros cuadrados	pies cuadrados
tsubo	坪	100 ⁄ 30.25	3.306	35,58
Volumen		litros	litros	Galones estadounidenses	Galones imperiales
shō	升	2401 ⁄ 1331	1.804	0.4765	0.3968
Masa		kilogramos	kilogramos	libras
kan	貫	15 ⁄ 4	3.750	8.267
Nota: Las definiciones son exactas y las conversiones se redondean a cuatro cifras significativas.

In 1909, English units were also made legal within the Empire of Japan.^[2] Following World War I, the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce established a Committee for Weights and Measures and Industrial Standards, part of whose remit was to investigate which of Japan's three legal systems should be adopted.^[2] Upon its advice, the Imperial Diet established the metric system as Japan's legal standard, effective 1 July 1924,^[4] with use of the other systems permitted as a transitional measure.^[2] The government and "leading industries" were to convert within the next decade, with others following in the decade after that.^[5] Public education—at the time compulsory through primary school—began to teach the metric system.^[5] Governmental agencies and the Japanese Weights and Measures Association undertook a gradual course of education and conversion but opposition became vehemently outspoken in the early 1930s. Nationalists decried the "foreign" system as harmful to Japanese pride, language, and culture, as well as restrictive to international trade. In 1933, the government pushed the deadline for the conversion of the first group of industries to 1939; the rest of the country was given until 1954.^[5] Emboldened, the nationalists succeeded in having an Investigating Committee for Weights and Measures Systems established. In 1938, it advised that the government should continue to employ the "Shaku–Kan" system alongside the metric one.^[5] The next year, the imperial ordinance concerning the transition to the metric system was formally revised, indefinitely exempting real estate and historical objects and treasures from any need for metric conversion. The deadline for compulsory conversion in all other fields was moved back to 31 December 1958.^[5]

Después de su derrota en la Segunda Guerra Mundial , Japón fue ocupado por Estados Unidos y vio un uso ampliado de las unidades tradicionales estadounidenses . La gasolina se vendía por galón y la tela por yarda . ^[6] La Dieta revisó las medidas de la nación y, con la aprobación de la ocupación, promulgó una Ley de Medidas en junio de 1951 que reafirmó su intención de continuar la metrificación de Japón, efectiva el primer día de 1959. ^[6] Una ley no oficial y ad hoc Metric System Promotion Committee was established by interested scholars, public servants, and businessmen in August 1955, undertaking a public awareness campaign and seeking to accomplish as much of the conversion ahead of schedule as possible.^[6] Its first success was the conversion of candy sales in Tokyo department stores from the momme to the gram in September 1956; others followed, with NHK taking the lead in media use.^[7]

With the majority of the public now exposed to it since childhood,^[5] the metric system became the sole legal measurement system in most fields of Japanese life on 1 January 1959.^[2] Redrafting of laws to use metric equivalents had already been accomplished, but conversion of the land registries required until 31 March 1966 to complete.^[8][7] Industry transitioned gradually at its own expense, with compliance sometimes being nominal, as in the case of 1⁄4-inch (6.35 mm) screws becoming "1⁄4 screws".^[9] Since the original fines for noncompliance were around $140 and governmental agencies mostly preferred to wait for voluntary conversion, metric use by December 1959 was estimated at only 85%.^[10] Since research showed that individual Japanese did not intend to actually use the metric units when given other options, however, sale and verification of devices marked with non-metric units (such as rulers and tape measures noting shaku and sun) were criminalised after 1961.^[9]

Some use of the traditional units continues. Some Japanese describe their weight in terms of kan.^[9] Homes continue to be reckoned in terms of tsubo, even on the national census as late as 2005, although the practice was discontinued in 2010.^{[citation needed]} English units continue to be employed in aviation,^[10] munitions,^[10] and various sports, including golf and baseball.^[9]

Length

The base unit of Japanese length is the shaku based upon the Chinese chi, with other units derived from it and changing over time based on its dimensions. The chi was originally a span taken from the end of the thumb to the tip of an outstretched middle finger, but which gradually increased in length to about 1⁄3 metre (33 cm), just a few centimeters longer than the size of a foot.^{[citation needed]}

As in China and Korea, Japan employed different shaku for different purposes. The "carpentry" shaku (曲尺, kanejaku) was used for construction. It was a little longer in the 19th century prior to its metric redefinition.^[a] The "cloth"^[12] or "whale" shaku (鯨尺, kujirajaku), named for tailors' and fabric merchants' baleen rulers, was 1⁄4 longer^[12] and used in measuring cloth. (A longer unit of about 25 cloth shaku was the tan.)^[12] Traditional Japanese clothing was reckoned using the "traditional clothing" shaku (呉服尺, gofukujaku), about 1⁄5 longer than the carpentry shaku. The Shōsōin in Nara has ivory 1-shaku^[which?] rulers, the kōgebachiru-no-shaku (紅牙撥鏤尺).^{[citation needed]}

The Japanese ri is now much longer than the Chinese or Korean li, comprising 36 chō, 2160 ken,^[13] or 12,960 shaku. A still longer unit was formerly standard in Ise on Honshu and throughout the 9 provinces of Kyushu, which comprised 50 chō, 3000 ken,^[13] or 18,000 shaku. The imperial nautical mile of 6080 feet (1853.19 m) was also formerly used by the Japanese in maritime contexts as a "marine ri".^[12] A fourth and shorter ri of about 600 m is still evident in some beach names. The "99-Ri" beach at Kujukuri is about 60 km. The "7-Ri" beach at Shichiri is 4.2 km long.^{[citation needed]}

Table of Lengths

Unit		Shaku[12]	Metric		US & Imperial
Romanised	Kanji		Exact	Approx.	Exact	Approx.
Mō	毛 or 毫	1⁄10000	1/33,000 m	0.03030 mm	5/150,876 yd	0.001193 in
Rin	厘 or 釐	1⁄1000	1/3300 m	0.3030 mm	25/75,438 yd	0.01193 in
Bu	分	1⁄100	1/330 m	3.030 mm	125/37,719 yd	0.1193 in
Sun	寸	1⁄10	1/33 m	3.030 cm	1250/37,719 yd	1.193 in
Shaku	尺	1	10/33 m	30.30 cm	12,500/37,719 yd	11.93 in
Ken[b]	間	6	20/11 m	1.818 m	25,000/12,573 yd	5 ft 11.6 in
Hiro	尋
Jō	丈	10	100/33 m	3.030 m	125,000/37,719 yd	9 ft 11.3 in
Chō[c]	町	360	1200/11 m	109.1 m	500,000/4191 yd	357 ft 11 in
Ri[d]	里	12,960	43,200/11 m	3.927 km	6,000,000/1397 yd	2.440 mi
Notes: Exact figures follow the 1891 Law of Weights & Measures and 1959 International Yard and Pound Agreement. Approximations are rounded to four significant figures. The names of the smallest units, borrowed from Chinese, also function as the Japanese names for the fractions "hundredth", "thousandth", and "ten-thousandth". The ken is the normal unit of distance and length; the hiro used as the equivalent unit of depth. Sometimes Hiro is used equal to 5 Shaku[12] (1.5152 meters).

The traditional units are still used for construction materials in Japan. For example, plywood is usually manufactured in 182 cm × 91 cm (about 72 in × 36 in) sheets known in the trade as saburokuhan (3 × 6版), or 3 × 6 shaku. Each sheet is about the size of one tatami mat. The thicknesses of the sheets, however, are usually measured in millimetres. The names of these units also live in the name of the bamboo flute shakuhachi (尺八), literally "shaku eight", which measures one shaku and eight sun, and the Japanese version of the Tom Thumb story, Issun Bōshi (一寸法師), literally "one sun boy", as well as in many Japanese proverbs.^{[citation needed]}

Area

Area floored with 8 tatami mats (4 tsubo, or 8 jō).

The base unit of Japanese area is the tsubo, equivalent to a square ken or 36 square shaku. It is twice the size of the jō, the area of the Nagoya tatami mat. Both units are used informally in discussing real estate floorspace. Due to historical connections, the tsubo is still used as the official base unit of area in Taiwan.^{[citation needed]}

In agricultural contexts, the tsubo is known as the bu. The larger units remain in common use by Japanese farmers when discussing the sizes of fields.^{[citation needed]}

Table of area units

Unit		Tsubo	Metric		US & Imperial
Romanized	Kanji		Exact	Approx.	Exact	Approx.
Shaku	勺	1⁄100	4/121 m2	330.6 cm2	6,250,000/158,080,329 sq yd	51.24 sq in
Gō	合	1⁄10	40/121 m2	0.3306 m2	62,500,000/158,080,329 sq yd	3.558 sq ft
Jō	畳	1⁄2	200/121 m2	1.653 m2	312,500,000/158,080,329 sq yd	17.79 sq ft
Tsubo	坪	1	400/121 m2	3.306 m2	625,000,000/158,080,329 sq yd	35.58 sq ft
Bu	歩
Se	畝	30	12,000/121 m2	99.17 m2	6,250,000,000/52,693,443 sq yd	1,067 sq ft
Tan	段 or 反	300	120,000/121 m2	991.7 m2	62,500,000,000/52,693,443 sq yd	10,674.6 sq ft
Chō(bu)[e]	町(歩)	3000	1,200,000/121 m2	0.9917 ha	625,000,000,000/52,693,443 sq yd	2.4505 acres
Notes: Approximations are rounded to four significant figures.

Volume

A sake cup (1 gō) for celebrations.

The base unit of Japanese volume is the shō, although the gō now sees more use since it is reckoned as the appropriate size of a serving of rice or sake. Sake bottles are now marketed as containing 1800 mL exactly.^{[citation needed]}

The koku is historically important: since it was reckoned as the amount of rice necessary to feed a person for a single year, it was used to compute agricultural output and official salaries.^{[citation needed]} The koku of rice was sometimes reckoned as 3000 "sacks".^[13] By the 1940s the shipping koku was 1⁄10 of the shipping ton^[12] of 40 or 42 cu ft (i.e., 110–120 L); the koku of timber was about 10 cu ft (280 L);^[12] and the koku of fish, like many modern bushels, was no longer reckoned by volume but computed by weight (40 kan).^[12] The shakujime of timber was about 12 cu ft (340 L) and the taba about 108 ft³ (3,100 L or 3.1 m³).^[12]

Table of volume units

Unit		Shō	Metric		US		Imperial
Romanized	Kanji		Exact	Approx.	Exact	Approx.	Exact	Approx.
Sai	才	1⁄1000	2401/1,331,000 L	1.804 mL	37,515,625/15,900,351,812,136 cu yd	29.28 min	240,100/605,084,579 gal	30.47 min
						0.1101 cu in
Shaku	勺	1⁄100	2401/133,100 L	18.04 mL	187,578,125/7,950,175,906,068 cu yd	0.6100 fl oz	2,401,000/605,084,579 gal	0.6349 fl oz
						1.101 cu in
Gō	合	1⁄10	2401/13,310 L	180.4 mL	937,890,625/3,975,087,953,034 cu yd	0.3812 pt	24,010,000/605,084,579 gal	0.3174 pt
						0.3276 dry pt
Shō	升	1	2401/1331 L	1.804 L	4,689,453,125/1,987,543,976,517 cu yd	1.906 qt	240,100,000/605,084,579 gal	1.587 qt
						1.638 dry qt
To	斗	10	24,010/1331 L	18.04 L	46,894,531,250/1,987,543,976,517 cu yd	4.765 gal	2,401,000,000/605,084,579 gal	3.968 gal
						2.048 pk
Koku[f]	石	100	240,100/1331 L	180.4 L	468,945,312,500/1,987,543,976,517 cu yd	47.65 gal	24,010,000,000/605,084,579 gal	39.680 gal
						5.119 bu
Notes: Approximations are rounded to four significant figures.

Mass

The base unit of Japanese mass is the kan, although the momme is more common. It is a recognised unit in the international pearl industry.^[16]

The Japanese form of the Chinese tael was the ryō (両).^[g] It was customarily reckoned as around 4 or 10 momme^[13] but, because of its importance as a fundamental unit of the silver and gold bullion used as currency in medieval Japan, it varied over time and location from those notional values.^{[citation needed]}

Table of units of mass

Unit		Kan[19]	Metric		US & Imperial
Romanised	Kanji		Legal	Decimal	Exact	Approx.
Mō	毛 or 毫	1⁄1,000,000	3/800,000 kg	3.75 mg	375/45,359,237 lb	8.267 μlb
Rin	厘	1⁄100,000	3/80,000 kg	37.5 mg	3750/45,359,237 lb	0.5787 gr
Fun[h]	分	1⁄10,000	3/8000 kg	375 mg	37,500/45,359,237 lb	5.787 gr
Momme Monme[i]	匁	1⁄1000	3/800 kg	3.75 g	375,000/45,359,237 lb	2.116 dr
Hyakume	百目	1⁄10	3/8 kg	375 g	37,500,000/45,359,237 lb	13.23 oz
Kin[j]	斤	4⁄25	3/5 kg	600 g	60,000,000/45,359,237 lb	1.323 lb
Kan(me)[k]	貫(目)	1	15/4 kg	3.75 kg	375,000,000/45,359,237 lb	8.267 lb
Maru	丸	8	30 kg		3,000,000,000/45,359,237 lb	66.14 lb
Tan[l]	担 or 擔	16	60 kg		6,000,000,000/45,359,237 lb	132.3 lb
Notes: Exact figures follow the 1891 Law of Weights & Measures and 1959 International Yard and Pound Agreement. Metric values are exact. US & imperial approximations are rounded to four significant figures.

Imperial units

Imperial units are sometimes used in Japan. Feet and inches are used for most non-sport bicycles, whose tyre sizes follow a British system; for sizes of magnetic tape and many pieces of computer hardware; for photograph sizes; and for the sizes of electronic displays for electronic devices. Photographic prints, however, are usually rounded to the nearest millimetre and screens are not described in terms of inches but "type" (型, gata). For instance, a television whose screen has a 17-inch diagonal is described as a "17-type" (17型) and one with a 32-inch widescreen screen is called a "32-vista-type" (32V型).^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Japanese numerals, counter words, currency, & clocks
• Heavenly Stems & Earthly Branches
• Units, Systems, & History of measurement
• Chinese, Taiwanese, Hong Kong, Mongolian, Korean, & Vietnamese units of measurement
• Metric system & Metrication

References

Notes

1. In the 10th lunar month of the 3rd year of Meiji (around November 1871), the Railways Ministry defined the "English foot" as 1 shaku 4 rin, making the shaku equivalent to about 0.996 ft.^[11]
2. The ken^[14] is also found in English sources as the kin or glossed as the Japanese fathom.^[13]
3. The chō is also found in English sources as the cho or tsyo.^[13]
4. The Japanese ri is also frequently known by its Chinese name li^[13] or glossed as the Japanese mile.^[15]
5. Chōbu is used rather than chō when no fraction follows.^{[citation needed]}
6. The koku has also appeared in English as the kokf and its multiples as the ikwankokf or ickmagog (1000 koku) and man-kokf or managoga (10,000 koku).^[13]
7. The ryō is sometimes written in English as ryo, without its macron.^[17] It also appears in English sources as the tael,^[18] the táīl, the táhil, and the táïl.^[13]
8. The fun is more often known in English as the candareen.^[20] It also sometimes appears as the kondúrí or konderi.^[13]
9. Although monme is the Revised Hepburn romanization of the unit, momme is more common in English.^[21] It also sometimes appears as the mommé, me,^{[citation needed]} or mas.^[13]
10. Particularly in historical sources, the kin is more commonly known in English as the catty^[22] or katí.^[13]
11. The kan is also sometimes known in English as the kwan.^[12]
12. Particularly in historical sources, the tan is more commonly known in English as the picul,^[23] pikul, or pikel.^[13]

Citations

1. 日本国語大辞典,世界大百科事典内言及, ブリタニカ国際大百科事典 小項目事典,知恵蔵,デジタル大辞泉,百科事典マイペディア,世界大百科事典 第２版,大辞林 第三版,日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ),精選版. "尺貫法(しゃっかんほう)とは". コトバンク (in Japanese). Retrieved 30 September 2019.
2. Tamano (1971), p. 97.
3. Lyon (1901), p. 933. sfnp error: no target: CITEREFLyon1901 (help)
4. "改正度量衡法規", Digital Collections, Tokyo: National Diet Library. (in Japanese)
5. Tamano (1971), p. 98.
6. Tamano (1971), p. 99.
7. Tamano (1971), p. 100.
8. "メートル条約", Official site, Ibaraki: International Metrology Cooperation Office, archived from the original on 9 March 2012. (in Japanese)
9. Tamano (1971), p. 101.
10. Tamano (1971), p. 102.
11. 日本鉄道史 [Nippon Tetsudō-shi, Japanese Railway History], Vol. I, Tokyo: Ministry of Railways, 1921, p. 49. (in Japanese)
12. USWD (1944), p. 400.
13. Renouard (1845), p. 486.
14. OED, "ken, n.³".
15. Renouard (1845), p. 490.
16. Winterson Limited (April 2004). "What is a Pearl Momme?". Retrieved 7 February 2019. For these larger lots, pearls are sold by mass and the unit commonly used is the momme, a traditional Japanese unit equal to 3.75 grams. [...] For larger lots of pearls, auctioneers may use the kan, which is equal to 1,000 momme.
17. OED, "ryo, n.".
18. OED, "tael, n.".
19. Nagase-Reimer (2016), p. xiii.
20. OED, "candareen, n.".
21. OED, "momme, n.".
22. OED, "catty, n.¹".
23. OED, "picul, n.".

Bibliography

• Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• "Japanese Weights, Measures, and Moneys", Handbook on Japanese Military Forces, Technical Manual E 30–480, Washington: US War Department, 1944, p. 400–1, ISBN 9780807164464, reprinted by the Louisiana State University Press at Baton Rouge in 1991.
• Lyon, Samuel V. (1902), "Trade in 1901", Commercial Relations of the United States with Foreign Countries during the Year 1901, Vol. I, Washington: Bureau of Foreign Commerce, pp. 915–934.
• Tamano, Mitsuo (July 1971), "Japan's Transition to the Metric System", US Metric Study Interim Report, No. 3: Commercial Weights and Measures, National Bureau of Standards Special Publication 345-3, Washington: US Department of Commerce, pp. 97–102.
• Nagase-Reimer, Keiko (2016), Copper in the Early Modern Sino-Japanese Trade, Monies, Markets, and Finance in East Asia, 1600–1900, Vol. VII, Leiden: Brill, ISBN 9789004304512.
• Renouard, George Cecil (1845), "Japan", Encyclopaedia Metropolitana, or, Universal Dictionary of Knowledge, Vol. XX: Miscellaneous and Lexicographical, Vol. 7, London: B. Fellowes & al., pp. 470 ff.

External links

• Japanese Carpentry Museum
• Japanese units (in Japanese)
• Convert traditional Japanese units to metric and imperial units (lengths, areas, volumes, weights) (sci.lang.Japan FAQ pages)
• Japanese Measurement to Metric and Imperial Converter for Length/Distance, Area, Volume, Mass/Weight, and Rice Weights
• Simple Japanese Traditional Area Units Converter
• Simple Japanese Distance and Length Units Converter