Koku (Volume)

Koku (written 石) is a Japanese unit of volume. Conversion conventions in place since 1891 state that 1 Koku is equivalent to 240100/1331 Litres equating to 180.4L. It is equivalent to 100 Shō.

Historically the Koku was a highly important unit of measurement used to estimate the yield of rice on a piece of land, which in turn was used to calculate salaries amongst the land-owning classes. 1 Koku was said to be the amount of rice necessary to feed one person for a year, this measurement is explored in the Constant "Koku (Rice Measurement)". Different variations of the measurement exist for shipping, timber, and fish. In older English-language texts the unit is sometimes romanized as "Kokf."