The is a traditional Japanese unit of length, equal to six Japanese feet (''shaku''). The exact value has varied over time and location but has generally been a little shorter than .JAANUS It is now standardized as 1.82 m. Although mostly supplanted by the

metric system The metric system is a system of measurement that standardization, standardizes a set of base units and a nomenclature for describing relatively large and small quantities via decimal-based multiplicative unit prefixes. Though the rules gover ...

, this unit is a common measurement in

Japanese architecture has been typified by wooden structures, elevated slightly off the ground, with tiled or thatched roofs. Sliding doors ('' fusuma'') and other traditional partitions were used in place of walls, allowing the internal configuration of a space ...

, where it is used as a proportion for the intervals between the pillars of traditional-style buildings. In this context, it is commonly translated as "bay". The length also appears in other contexts, such as the standard length of the '' bō'' staff in

Japanese martial arts Japanese martial arts refers to the variety of martial arts native to the country of Japan. At least three Japanese terms (''budō'', ''bujutsu'', and ''bugei'') are used interchangeably with the English phrase Japanese martial arts. The usage ...

and the standard dimensions of the

tatami are soft mats used as flooring material in traditional Japanese-style rooms. They are made in standard sizes, twice as long as wide, about , depending on the region. In martial arts, tatami are used for training in a dojo and for competition. ...

mats. As these are used to cover the floors of most Japanese houses, floor surfaces are still commonly measured not in square meters but in "tatami" which are equivalent to half of a square ken.

Word

Among English loanwords of Japanese origin, both ''ken'' and '' ma'' are derived from readings of the same character . This

kanji are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are ...

graphically combines "door" and "sun". The earlier variant character was written with "moon" rather than "sun", depicting "A door through the crevice of which the moonshine peeps in". The diverse Japanese pronunciations of include ''

on'yomi , or the Sino-Japanese vocabulary, Sino-Japanese reading, is the reading of a kanji based on the historical Chinese pronunciation of the character. A single kanji might have multiple ''on'yomi'' pronunciations, reflecting the Chinese pronuncia ...

'' Sino-Chinese readings (from ''jian'' or "room; between; gap; interval") of ''kan'' "interval; space; between; among; discord; favorable opportunity" or ''ken'' "six feet"; and ''

kun'yomi is the way of reading kanji characters using the native Japanese word that matches the meaning of the Chinese character when it was introduced. This pronunciation is contrasted with ''on'yomi'', which is the reading based on the original Chi ...

'' native Japanese readings of ''ai'' "interval; between; medium; crossbred", ''aida'' or ''awai'' "space; interval; gap; between; among; midway; on the way; distance; time; period; relationship", or ''ma'' "space; room; interval; pause; rest (in music); time; a while; leisure; luck; timing; harmony".

History

The ''ken'' is based on the Chinese ''jian''. It uses the same Chinese character as the Korean '' kan''. A building's proportions were (and, to a certain extent, still are) measured in ''ken'', as for example in the case of Enryaku-ji's ''Konponchū-dō'' ( Main Hall), which measures 11×6 bays (37.60 m × 23.92 m), of which 11×4 are dedicated to the worshipers. Inside buildings, available space was often divided in squares measuring one ''ken'' across, and each square was then called a , the term written with the same Chinese character as ''ken''. Traditional buildings usually measure an odd number of bays, for example 3×3 or 5×5. A type of temple's gate called '' rōmon'' can have dimensions going from 5×2 bays to the more common 3×2 bays down to even 1×1 bay. The

Zen Zen (; from Chinese: ''Chán''; in Korean: ''Sŏn'', and Vietnamese: ''Thiền'') is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty by blending Indian Mahayana Buddhism, particularly Yogacara and Madhyamaka phil ...

''butsuden'' in the illustration measures 5×5 ''ken'' across externally because its 3×3 ''ken'' core ('' moya'') is surrounded by a 1-''ken'' aisle called '' hisashi''. The value of a ''ken'' could change from building to building, but was usually kept constant within the same structure. There can however be exceptions. Kasuga Taisha's tiny ''

honden In Shinto shrine architecture, the , also called , or sometimes as in Ise Shrine's case, is the most sacred building at a Shinto shrine, intended purely for the use of the enshrined ''kami'', usually symbolized by a mirror or sometimes by a sta ...

s dimensions, for example, are 1×1 in ''ken'', but 1.9×2.6 in meters. In the case of Izumo Taisha's ''honden'', a ''ken'' is , well above its standard value.JAANUS
Taisha-zukuri
Accessed on December 1, 2009. The distance between pillars was standardized very early and started being used as a unit of measurement. Land area in particular was measured using the ''ken'' as a basis. The unit was born out of the necessity to measure land surface to calculate taxes. At the time of

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods and regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: ...

(16th century), the ''ken'' was about , but around 1650 the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

reduced it to specifically to increase taxes. After the Edo period, the ''ken'' started to be called .Iwanami Kōjien

References

Citations

Bibliography

Japanese Art Net User System (JAANUS)
Dictionary of Japanese Architectural and Art Historical Terminology, articles ''Kasuga-zukuri'', ''Ken'' and ''Kondō''. Accessed on May 6, 2009 * Iwanami Japanese dictionary, 6th Edition (2008), DVD version {{Japanese architectural elements Japanese architectural features Units of length