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Japanese sake and rice measures, from the sho to the koku. Part of the Ancient Measures collection.
Every unit converts through liters: sho = 1.804 L, to = 10 sho, koku = 10 to. Worked example: a daimyo rated at 100,000 koku commanded the rice of 100,000 people = 100,000 × 180.4 ≈ 18 million liters a year — the Tokugawa shogunate itself was rated near 8 million koku. The koku was wealth itself: taxes, salaries and status were all counted in rice.
About 180.4 L of rice — defined as what one person eats in a year (~150 kg). It was Japan’s unit of wealth: domains were rated in koku, not acres.
1.804 L — the sake bottle on every Japanese table (isshobin) is exactly one sho. Brewers still think in sho and koku.
Rice was tax, salary and savings at once. The Tokugawa peace ran on koku accounting for 260 years — the original rice standard.
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