Page:Things Japanese (1905).djvu/511

Rh Notice how much longer the inch and foot of Cloth Measure are than the measures of Distance similarly named. In order to distinguish the two kinds of foot, the Cloth Measure foot is often called kujira-jaku, the Distance foot kane-jaku. In cheap material the tan is apt to be short, in expensive stuffs long.

This is how agricultural land is measured. Town lots and buildings go by tsubo only, whatever their size:—1 tsubo=1 bu, An English acre is nearly equivalent to 1,210 tsubo, or 4 tan and 10 bu. It may be useful to remember that the tsubo (bu) is exactly the size of two Japanese mats laid side by side. The area of rooms is computed in mats (jō), which are always 6 shaku long by 3 shaku broad.

It was in koku shall we translate it "bales?"—of rice that the incomes of Daimyōs and their retainers were formerly computed, while the rations of the lower grade of Samurai were computed in hyo or "bags." The hyō of charcoal is of indeterminate size, as is also the wa, or "bundle," of fire-wood.