Shaku to Feet (shaku to ft)

1 shaku equals 0.9941939076 feet (rounded).

1 shaku = 0.9941939076 feet

How to convert shaku to feet

To convert shaku to feet, multiply the number of shaku by 0.9941939076. The factor is rounded to 10 significant digits. To go the other way, multiply feet by 1.00584.

feet = shaku × 0.9941939076

Example: 10 shaku = 9.941939076 feet.

About these units

Shaku (shaku)

JapaneseTraditional unit (still used in some regions)

The Japanese foot, defined as exactly 10/33 meter (about 30.3 cm). Still the basis of carpentry and building dimensions in Japan.

Shaku is the Japanese reading of the character for chi, the Chinese foot, which began as a hand span from thumb tip to fingertip. Japan adopted the Chinese measuring system around the year 701, and the shaku became its basic length, growing over the centuries to roughly a third of a meter.

Several versions coexisted. The ordinary carpenter's shaku, the kanejaku, was about 30.2 to 30.3 centimeters. A longer kujirajaku, used for cloth and said to have been marked on whale baleen, measured 125/330 meter, near 37.9 centimeters. A longer variant, the korai-shaku, was about 1.17 times the modern value, about 35.5 centimeters.

The Weights and Measures Act of 24 March 1891 ended the variation for the standard unit by defining it as exactly 10/33 meter, about 30.3 centimeters or 11.93 inches. Official use was banned in 1966, yet the shaku still sets building dimensions: a standard three shaku panel is rounded to 910 millimeters.

1 shaku = 0.303030303 meters (approximately).

Sources: Wikipedia: Shaku (unit); Wikipedia: Japanese units of measurement; Japanese Wikipedia: Shakkanho (尺貫法)

Foot (ft)

US & ImperialCurrent unit

12 inches. Defined as exactly 0.3048 meters. Still the standard unit for height, altitude in aviation and room dimensions in the US and UK.

Human anatomy supplied the idea: an adult foot is roughly 15 percent of body height. Ancient cultures turned that into standards, but not the same one. The Greek pous was about 302 mm, the standard Roman pes about 295.7 mm, and a Harappan foot of about 335 mm has been reported from the Indus Valley. Historically, a foot fell somewhere between about 250 and 335 mm. Charlemagne tried to standardize units around 790 with little lasting success, and in 1593 English law fixed the statute mile at 5,280 feet.

The modern foot dates from the 1959 International Yard and Pound Agreement, which defined the yard as exactly 0.9144 meter and so the foot as exactly 0.3048 meter; the UK adopted it on 1 January 1964. The US survey foot, defined in 1893 as 1200/3937 meter, was deprecated on 31 December 2022. Feet remain in everyday use for height and rooms in the US, and ISO shipping containers are defined in them. Aviation altitudes use them too: flight level 330 means 33,000 feet.

1 foot = 0.3048 meters (exactly).

Sources: Wikipedia: Foot (unit); Wikipedia: Mile; NIST Guide to the SI, Appendix B.8: conversion factors

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