Chō (area) (chō)

JapaneseTraditional unit (still used in some regions)

3,000 tsubo, about 9,917 m² (roughly one hectare; 2.45 acres). Used for farmland in Japan.

1 chō (area) = 9,917.355372 square meters (approximately).

About the chō (area)

Almost exactly a hectare, the cho is the largest of the everyday Japanese land units. It is 3,000 tsubo, or 1,200,000/121 square metres, about 9,917, which is 0.9917 hectare or roughly 2.45 acres. It is also 100 se or 10 tan, and when no fractional part follows it is often written cho-bu.

Because it is so near a hectare, it is a convenient mental bridge for anyone moving between traditional and metric figures. In Japan it has been used for farmland, and it sits at the top of the tsubo, se and tan ladder.

The name is shared with a unit of length, so the area sense needs to be stated. The area figure used here follows from the 10/33 metre shaku fixed by the 1891 Meiji law, and the 1951 Measurements Law took the traditional units out of official use from 1959.

Sources: Wikipedia: Japanese units of measurement; Wikipedia: Shaku (unit); Wikipedia: Tsubo

Chō (area) conversion chart

1 chō (area) expressed in every other area unit:

More Japanese units

• jō (tatami mat) (area)
• tsubo (area)
• se (area)
• tan (area)
• sun (length)
• shaku (length)
• ken (length)
• jō (length)
• chō (length)
• ri (Japanese) (length)
• monme (weight & mass)
• kin (weight & mass)
• kan (weight & mass)
• gō (volume)
• shō (volume)
• tō (volume)

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