Japan used the 17.3 cm‐long linear measure unit that was common to all the regions in East Asia for a period of 25,000 years. Under the influence of China, the Japanese measuring unit gradually lengthened during the period from the end of the eleventh century BCE to the middle of the third century BCE. Then, the length of the Japanese measure shaku was stabilized at 23 cm and remained unchanged until the end of the second century AD. Various civil disturbances in China had the effect of lengthening the linear measure substantially to 29 cm until the middle of the seventh century, and no more significant variation has since been observed (Fig. 1).
Linear Measure. Drawing by The Ministry of Finance. Doryoko Shurui Hyo (The Classification Table of Weights and Measures) Genbei Kinokuniya, 1875. Chos 1, 4–6, 9–11.
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References
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Iwata, S. (2008). Weights and Measures in Japan. In: Selin, H. (eds) Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4425-0_8935
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