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kujirajaku or kujira shaku

In Japan, ? – 20ᵗʰ century, a unit of length used for cloth, by a law of 1881 = ¹²⁵⁄₃₃₀ meter (37.878... cm).¹ One kujira shaku = 1 shaku, 2 sun, 5 bu of the common shaku measure.²

The kujirajaku is an alternative to the usual shaku (30.3 cm), which is sometimes called a kanejaku (metal shaku). Kujirajaku means whale shaku, because the rulers for measuring cloth were made from a whale whisker.

Also called a kujira shaku shaku, that is, a shaku of the kujira shaku standard.

1. United Nations, 1966.

2. Details of the Weights and Measures Exposed at the World's Columbian Exposition by the Bureau of Commerce and Industry, Department of Agriculture and Commerce, Japan.
Tokyo: M. Ōnuki, 1893.

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