Shō

JapaneseTraditional unit (still used in some regions)

Exactly 2401/1331 liters, about 1.8039 L. Sake bottles still come in 1.8 L 'isshō-bin' sizes.

1 shō = 1.803906837 liters (approximately).

About the shō

The character for shō depicts a ladle holding grain, and the measure began as roughly the amount held in two cupped hands, about 200 mL. Over the centuries the unit grew to about ten times that, and by the Edo period the standard box (masu) was the one used in Kyoto.

In 1669 the shogunate abolished the older Edo masu and ordered the slightly larger new Kyoto masu to be used everywhere. Guilds in Edo and Kyoto policed its size for roughly three centuries. The 1891 Weights and Measures Act then fixed the shō at 2401/1331 L, about 1.804 L, derived from the 64,827 cubic bu of that box.

Japanese sake is still sold in 1.8 L bottles known as isshō-bin, or one-shō bottles. Trade use of the shō was banned in 1959. Note that in China the shō is defined as exactly one litre, so the same word names a different size there.

Sources: Wikipedia: Japanese units of measurement; Japanese Wikipedia: Sho

Shō conversion chart

1 shō expressed in every other volume unit:

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