Gō (volume)

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The gō (合, gō^?) is a traditional Japanese unit of area and volume. It expresses a tenth of a particular quantity.

As a unit expressing area, one gō is equivalent to a tenth of a bu or tsubo. This is approximately equal to 0.3306 m².

As a unit expressing volume, one gō is equivalent to a tenth of a shō. This is approximately equal to 0.1809 liters.

Although it is no longer used officially, rice and sake are often measured in gō. As a rule of thumb, one gō is equivalent to about 150 grams of Japanese short grain rice. A gō is 1/1000 of a koku, the base unit which was historically defined as the amount of rice needed to feed one person for a year. It is a very old unit of measurement and recently there has been some attempts of revival which have met with success;^{[citation needed]} several more things are now being measured in gō like traditional Japanese fish (especially the dangerous Fugu) and several restaurants have re-instated it as part of a more traditionalistic way of seeing the country's culture.

The Japanese gō is distinct from the Chinese unit gě, although both are written with the same character. The gě is also a unit of volume, but its size is a tenth of a peck, or roughly 0.881 liters.