The gō, Japanese unit of volume
The gō is 180.39 milliliters, a tenth of the shō. It is the everyday measure in Japan: one serving of dry rice, one cup of sake.
The cup that ships with a Japanese rice cooker holds one gō, and the machine's capacity is quoted in gō, five or ten of them, never in liters. The trap waits for anyone who reaches for a measuring jug instead: the Japanese kitchen cup is 200 milliliters, eleven per cent more, and rice measured that way gets too little water against the marks in the bowl. The word has also left volume behind: the stages of the climb up Mount Fuji are counted in gōme, tenths of the way, and the road stops at the fifth, the go-gōme, at about 2,300 meters.
The gō in other units
| 1 go | 0.000180391 m³ |
| 1 go | 0.180391 l |
| 1 go | 18.0391 cl |
| 1 go | 180.391 ml |
| 1 go | 0.0476542 gal |
| 1 go | 0.0396804 gal UK |
| 1 go | 0.381233 pt |
| 1 go | 6.09973 fl oz |
| 1 go | 6.34886 fl oz UK |
| 1 go | 0.190617 qt |
| 1 go | 0.158722 qt UK |
| 1 go | 0.317443 pt UK |
| 1 go | 0.762467 cup |
| 1 go | 0.721563 cup metric |
| 1 go | 0.901953 cup JP |
| 1 go | 12.1995 tbsp |
| 1 go | 12.026 tbsp metric |
| 1 go | 9.01953 tbsp AU |
| 1 go | 36.5984 tsp |
| 1 go | 36.0781 tsp metric |
| 1 go | 1.80391 dl |
| 1 go | 0.00113462 bbl |
| 1 go | 0.1 sho |
Frequently asked questions
How much cooked rice does one gō of raw rice make?
About 150 grams of dry rice, which come out at roughly 330 grams cooked, two ordinary bowls. That is why Japanese rice cookers are rated in gō and never in liters: three gō for one person, five and a half for the best selling size, ten for the large model, called isshōdaki since ten gō make one shō.
Is the shaku also a measure of volume?
Yes, and it is not the same word. The gō divides into ten shaku of 18.039 milliliters, written 勺, while the shaku of length is written 尺 and is 303.03 millimeters. Nothing links them but the romanisation, which merges what Japanese keeps apart on sight. The trap is the same as between the land ri and the sea ri.
Does the wooden box sake is served in hold one gō?
Yes, the cedar masu set under the glass is a one gō box, 180.39 milliliters, and it was a measuring instrument before it became a festive cup. The mokkiri custom draws its point from that: the glass is filled until it spills over into the box, so the customer gets more than one gō and can see it. Against Anglo-Saxon measures, the gō is a little over six US fluid ounces.