When I first washed up on these shores, my wife’s FIL’s neighboring house was furnitureless. Rather than ready-made stuff, I sought to build my own to customize use of space (man, I had energy then). But I was also penniless, so I sourced my wood straight from the source, a mill in Mifune, which has long been a source of wood due to its river. I used my FIL’s measuring tape to plan things, belatedly realizing that it was based on the “shaku,” which looks deceptively like an inch but is a bit longer (better to be too long than too short - the former can be rectified.) A new wall is being built alongside my local shrine, and I heard the craftsman call out “shaku.” A list of Japanese measurements for volume, distance, and dimensions can be found at the link. - William