升 means “sho (about 1.8 liters), measuring box”

しょう · shou

Also: 1.8 liter

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

ます

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

ショウ

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 4 strokes

The story

Picture a dipper tipping out grain: 升 is the sho, about 1.8 liters, the size of a big 一升瓶 of sake. On a baby's first birthday, families strap an 一升餅, a sho of rice cake, to the child's back, a pun on 一生, a whole life.

Used in 一升瓶 (isshoubin, 1.8-liter bottle), 升目 (masume, grid square), and 一升餅 (isshoumochi, first-birthday rice cake)

More from Old Measures

• 畝 ridge (in a field)
• 壱 one (formal)
• 弐 two (formal)
• 丙 third (in a series)
• 斤 axe
• 箇 item
• 第 number (ordinal prefix)
• 丈 length
• 寸 sun (about 3 cm)
• 坪 tsubo (about 3.3 square meters)
• 厘 rin
• 乙 second

Learn 升 and more kanji free on Fuji Learning · All kanji

Readings from KANJIDIC2, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA.