Shaku

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Shaku

The shaku is an archaic Japanese unit of length

Length

Length is the long dimension of any object. The length of a thing is the distance between its ends, its linear extent as measured from end to end....
, approximately equal to the foot. As with other measurements, it was originally derived from nature: the average length between nodes on bamboo

Bamboo

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Encyclopedia

The shaku is an archaic Japanese unit of length

Length

Bamboo

The bamboos are a group of woody perennial plant evergreen plants in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae....
. Since 1891, the shaku has been defined to equal 10/33 meters (approximately 30.3 cm, or 11.93 inches), or 3.3 shaku to the meter. A single shaku is divided into 10 sun.

Another unit of length also called the shaku was used only for measuring cloth. This shaku measured 125/330 meters (approximately 37.9 cm, or 14.9 inches). When a distinction needed to be made between the two shaku, the cloth unit was referred to as kujirajaku (whale shaku, as the rulers for measuring cloth were made from whale whisker) and the other shaku was referred to as kanejaku (metal shaku).

While Japan

Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
ese law required official use of these units be discontinued on March 31 1966, the shaku is still used in some fields in Japan, such as traditional carpentry

Carpenter

A carpenter is a skilled artisan who performs carpentry - a wide range of woodworking that includes constructing building construction, furniture, and other objects out of wood....
. The ken and jo are larger than a shaku: six shaku make up one ken; ten shaku make up one jo. The ken is commonly the distance between pillars in traditional buildings such as Buddhist temple

Temple

A temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A ??templum?? constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur....
s and Shinto shrines.

The Shosoin

Shosoin

The is the treasure house that belongs to Todai-ji, Nara, Nara The building is in the azekura log-cabin style, with a raised floor. It lies to the northwest of the Daibutsuden ....
in Nara

Nara, Nara

is the capital cities of Japan of Nara Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan. The city occupies the northern part of Nara Prefecture, directly bordering Kyoto Prefecture....
has an ancient ivory one-shaku ruler.

The shakuhachi

Shakuhachi

The is a Japanese end-blown flute flute. Its name means "1.8 feet", referring to its size. It is traditionally made of bamboo, but versions now exist in wood and plastic....
is a Japanese musical instrument

Musical instrument

A musical instrument is an object constructed or used for the purpose of making music. In principle, anything that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument....
nominally measuring one shaku and eight sun in length.

External links

by Joseph B. Reid, President Emeritus, Canadian Metric Association (U.S. Metric Association
U.S. Metric Association

The U.S. Metric Association , based in Northridge, California, is a non-profit organization that advocates for total conversion to the SI system in the United States ....
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