Talk:Koku

I'll add
a link to Japanese unit. Jimp 23Oct05

Merge to Japanese unit
Would it be wise to merge this and Shaku to Japanese unit?

Jimp 25Oct05

Discussion of both is combined at Talk:Japanese unit which is also the link in the mergeinto tag. Gene Nygaard 13:16, 25 October 2005 (UTC)

"1 koku is approximately 278.3 litres [...] a smaller koku was defined [...] which is approximately 180.39 litres" Are the numbers or the words wrong? 83.216.105.93 00:36, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

I think the numbers must be a little wrong, as that equates to nearly half a kilo of rice a day (150 / 365 = 0.41), furthmore a Masu is apparently 168 grams. So yes, i don't think it all adds up either.

must be the american koku ... seriously : it's definitely around 180 litres. I'll try to check a more definite source, but in the meantime, http://www.sizes.com/units/koku.htm has : " Literally translated from the Japanese, “bale.” 1. In Japan, 16th – 20th (UN 1966) century, a unit of capacity = 100 shō = 10 to, legally defined in 1891 as 240100/1331 liters, approximately 180.39 liters or about 5.12 U.S. bushels. ... 2. In Japan, 20th century, a unit of capacity equal to 10 cubic shaku, approximately 278.26 liters. Mainly used for lumber." which might explain the 278.3 litres - hopefully not too many had to feed on lumber Kokudaka (talk) 14:12, 26 January 2008 (UTC) kokudaka

chips might be good though ... Kodansha has : "... In the Edo period (1600–1868) a koku of grain equaled about 0.18 cubic meter, 180.39 liters, or 5.12 US bushels, ... As early as the 7th century, under the ritsuryo system ... one koku equaled 10 to; one to equaled 10 sho; and one sho equaled 10 go. When the varying sizes of these units were standardized by ... Toyotomi Hideyoshi ... the koku was set at more than twice the size it had been in the 7th century." Kokudaka (talk) 17:27, 26 January 2008 (UTC) kokudaka

Things get even more complicated -- there is a discrepancy between the colloquial definitions of Gō (180ml or 1/1000th of a smaller modern koku) and Masu for rice used here. The Gō says the 180ml is rice for one meal (and koku is rice for a year), the colloquial measure here says it's rice for one day, which doesn't work mathwise. Hellsop (talk) 16:44, 23 September 2015 (UTC)

KOKU as in 華やぐコク
Please add a section explaining the 'koku' as used in advertising on Japanese beer cans. A grocery store employee I asked indicated it was like a sound to describe taste. -- Newagelink (talk) 11:05, 28 November 2016 (UTC)


 * The コク (Koku) in the term that is referenced here refers to a full-bodied taste (also written in kanji as 濃く), not the measurement referred to in the article, known as 石 (koku). Beyond being homophones, these two terms are unrelated, so I do not think a section needs to be added to address this. Tobiklov (talk) 13:38, 17 July 2017 (UTC)


 * The thread titled "華やぐコク" (hanayagu koku, 'flowering koku taste') campaign slogan was for a Kirin beer product apparently, and the reference here is to koku-taste (ja:コク味) as Tobiklo says.


 * It is hard to describe or translate, but koku is explained as "depth" in taste. Off the top of my head, it is used to describe something like an "added dimension" in dashi stock that's well-executed, perhaps using a method like oi-gatsuo, or using some secret ingredient maybe.
 * The koku-taste is usually written in kana, but its kanji is apparently "酷" which I did not know; this character usually means "cruel, awful".


 * The grocery guy Newagelink consulted thought it was onomatopoeia for the sound of drinking beer kokukoku コクコク (instead of standard gokugoku ゴクゴク) but one would need to further research if the advertising team intended consumers to make such a connection.--Kiyoweap (talk) 07:36, 19 April 2020 (UTC)