Masu
Masu ( Japanese枡Masu ) was a measuring container in ancient Japan and is derived from it today, mainly a square wooden cup for drinking rice wine .
Measuring container
Masu is originally the Japanese name for square . Liquids and solids such as rice were measured in large and small square wooden vessels called masu.
In 1669 the Shogunate standardized the measuring system for the whole of Japan and also specified the size of the measuring containers. A masu is therefore not a unit of measurement, but a calibrated vessel that can have many different sizes for different named dimensions, but which are all multiples of 180.4 milliliters .
Though a small amount by today's standards, one masu rice was considered enough to feed a working man for a day. Similarly, one koku rice was enough to feed a man for a year.
The vessel was symbolically transferred to the seats in Kabuki and Bunrakutheatern marked by bars laid out in the form of a grid .
Rice wine drinking cup
The Masu drinking cup holds exactly one Gō , the smallest amount measured with Masu, namely 180 milliliters. In Japanese pubs rice wine is also ordered in multiples of Go. Whoever orders a Go rice wine, the waiter usually brings an empty Masu wooden cup and a large rice wine bottle from which he pours the Masu in front of the guest.
The masu traditionally stands on a saucer . It is then filled to overflowing when pouring, so that the saucer catches the overflowing rice wine, whereby the guest can slurp out the saucer after emptying the masu. In some pubs it is also customary to put another glass in the masu. The waiter fills this glass and lets it overflow into the masu until it overflows too.