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The is a Japanese unit of volume, equal to ten cubic ''shaku''. In this definition, 3.5937 ''koku'' equal one cubic metre, i.e. 1 ''koku'' is approximately 278.3 litres. The ''koku'' was originally defined as a quantity of rice, historically defined as enough rice to feed one person for one year (one ''masu'' is enough rice to feed a person for one day). A ''koku'' of rice weighs about 150 kilograms (23.6 stone or 330 pounds). In 1891, a smaller ''koku'' was defined such that one ''koku'' equalled exactly litres, which is approximately 180.39 litres, or about 5 bushels (40 imperial or 48 US gallons). Under the Tokugawa shogunate of the Edo period (1603–1868) of Japanese history, each ''feudal domain'' had an assessment of its potential income known as ''kokudaka'' which in part determined its order of precedence at the Shogunal court. The smallest ''kokudaka'' to qualify the fief-holder for the title of daimyo was 10,000 ''koku'' and Kaga han, the largest (other than that of the shogun), was called the "million-''koku'' domain". (Its holdings totaled around 1,025,000 ''koku''.) Many samurai, including ''hatamoto'', received stipends in ''koku'', while a few received salaries instead. In the Tōhoku and Hokkaidō domains, where rice could not be grown, the economy was still measured in terms of ''koku'', with other crops and produce converted to their equivalent value in terms of rice. 〔, p. 14-15.〕 The ''kokudaka'' was not adjusted from year to year, and thus some fiefs had larger economies than their nominal ''koku'' indicated due to land reclamation and new rice field development, which allowed them to fund development projects. ''Koku'' was also used to measure how much a ship could carry when all its loads were rice. Smaller ships carried 50 ''koku'' (7.5 t) while the biggest ships carried over 1,000 ''koku'' (150 t). The biggest ships were actually larger than military vessels owned by the Shogunate. The Hyakumangoku Matsuri (Million-Koku Festival) in Kanazawa, Japan celebrates the arrival of Lord Maeda Toshiie into the city in 1583, although the Maeda's income was not actually raised to over a million ''koku'' until after the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600. The ''koku'' unit is still commonly used in the lumber industry in Japan. ==References== * 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Koku」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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