Tō

JapaneseTraditional unit (still used in some regions)

Ten shō, about 18.039 L.

1 tō = 18.03906837 liters (approximately).

About the tō

With ten shō to the tō, this is the largest of the three grain and liquor measures of the Japanese system, equal to 24,010/1331 L, about 18.04 L, the figure used here. That is close to 4.77 US gallons, enough to fill a large barrel-sized pail.

It sits at the top of a chain that runs 10 gō to 1 shō and 10 shō to 1 tō, a purely decimal ladder, unlike many traditional systems.

Japan's 1891 law fixed the measure exactly by tying it to the new Kyoto masu standard. That standard dated from the Edo period, when the shogunate chose the new Kyoto masu in 1669, and the law simply converted it to metric terms. The tō lost legal status in trade after the 1959 Measurement Act.

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

Tō conversion chart

1 tō expressed in every other volume unit:

More Japanese units

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

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