The core idea: one ladder from pinch to cup
Picture the units as rungs. Fingers measure the smallest amounts, spoons the middle, a cup the largest, and each rung has a fixed size. Ōsaji (大さじ) is literally big spoon: ō is big and saji an older word for spoon that survives mainly in measuring. Kosaji (小さじ), literally small spoon, is a third of it. Kappu is the loanword cup, and in a Japanese recipe it means 200 ml.
The one rung that does not belong is the rice cup. It holds a gō, 180 ml, and sits beside the kappu in the diagram because the two look alike and are easy to confuse. At a cooking class, the teacher reads out the amounts.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| しょうゆを大さじ2入れます。 | Shōyu o ōsaji ni iremasu. | Add two tablespoons of soy sauce. |
| 砂糖は小さじ1です。 | Satō wa kosaji ichi desu. | The sugar is one teaspoon. |
| 水を1カップ加えてください。 | Mizu o ichi-kappu kuwaete kudasai. | Please add one cup of water. |
| 大さじと小さじ、どちらを使いますか。 | Ōsaji to kosaji, dochira o tsukaimasu ka. | Which do I use, the tablespoon or the teaspoon? |
Saying the amounts aloud
With spoons the unit comes first and the number follows, the reverse of English: ōsaji ni, two tablespoons. Cups and grams put the number first: ichi-kappu, hyaku-guramu. Fractions are read denominator first, so 1/2 is nibun no ichi, literally of two parts, one. In speech most people simply say hanbun, half.
| Written | Reading | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| 大さじ1 | ōsaji ichi | 15 ml, one tablespoon |
| 大さじ1/2 | ōsaji nibun no ichi | 7.5 ml, half a tablespoon |
| 大さじ1と1/2 | ōsaji ichi to nibun no ichi | 22.5 ml, one and a half tablespoons |
| 小さじ1 | kosaji ichi | 5 ml, one teaspoon |
| 小さじ1/4 | kosaji yonbun no ichi | 1.25 ml, a quarter teaspoon |
| 1カップ | ichi-kappu | 200 ml |
| 1/2カップ | nibun no ichi kappu | 100 ml |
| 水200cc | mizu nihyaku shīshī | 200 ml of water; cc and ml are the same |
| 米2合 | kome ni-gō | Two rice cups, 360 ml of uncooked rice |
| 大1・小1/2 | ōsaji ichi, kosaji hanbun | Shorthand on handwritten cards and TV captions |
On cooking programmes you also hear spoonfuls counted with hai, and its sound changes: ōsaji ippai, nihai, sanbai.
Levelling: surikiri, yamamori and the two-thirds rule
A Japanese spoon measure is level unless the recipe says otherwise. The word is surikiri (すりきり), literally scraped off: scoop a heaped spoonful, then run a straight edge, such as the handle of the other spoon, across the top. Yamamori (山盛り), literally mountain-heaped, is a deliberately generous spoonful and is written out when the recipe means it.
Liquids are filled until they are about to spill, bulging slightly. Halves follow two rules. For powders, level the spoon and scrape out half. For liquids, fill to about two thirds of the depth, because the bowl is round and its upper half holds more than its lower half. The teacher demonstrates.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| すりきりで大さじ1です。 | Surikiri de ōsaji ichi desu. | One level tablespoon. |
| 山盛りにすくってから、平らにしてください。 | Yamamori ni sukutte kara, taira ni shite kudasai. | Scoop a heaped spoonful, then level it off. |
| 液体は、こぼれる直前まで入れます。 | Ekitai wa, koboreru chokuzen made iremasu. | For liquids, fill it until it's just about to spill. |
| 半分は、深さの3分の2くらいが目安です。 | Hanbun wa, fukasa no sanbun no ni kurai ga meyasu desu. | For half, aim for about two thirds of the depth. |
The rice cup: one gō is 180 ml
Rice keeps an older unit. The gō (合) comes from Japan's traditional measuring system, in which ten gō make one shō, 1.8 litres, the size of the big isshōbin sake bottle. Rice cookers still work in it: the cup in the box holds one gō, the water lines inside the bowl are marked 1, 2, 3 in gō, and a cooker's capacity is given the same way. One gō of uncooked rice weighs about 150 g and makes roughly two bowls.
The trap is that in English both are called a cup. Measure rice with a 200 ml kappu and follow the cooker's lines, and every batch comes out slightly dry. The suihanki (炊飯器), literally rice-cooking appliance, expects its own cup. Two flatmates are planning dinner.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| お米、何合炊く？ | Okome, nan-gō taku? | How many cups of rice shall we cook? |
| 三合炊いておいて。 | San-gō taite oite. | Cook three cups, would you? |
| 水は目盛りの3まで入れてね。 | Mizu wa memori no san made irete ne. | Fill the water to the 3 line. |
| この炊飯器は五合炊きです。 | Kono suihanki wa go-gō-daki desu. | This rice cooker takes up to five cups. |
Below the spoon: shōshō, hitotsumami and hitokake
For amounts too small for a spoon, the fingers take over. Shōshō (少々) is what you can pick up between the tips of your thumb and index finger: about 0.6 g of salt, roughly an eighth of a teaspoon. Hitotsumami (ひとつまみ), one pinch, adds the middle finger: about 1 g, roughly a fifth of a teaspoon. Shōshō is the smaller amount, so it gets fewer fingers. With liquids, shōshō means a drop or two.
Hitokake (ひとかけ) is a knob or piece. For ginger it is a chunk about as long as your thumb from tip to first joint, or a little larger, around 15 g; for garlic it is one clove, around 5 g. If you use tube paste instead, food makers suggest a squeeze the size of a 500-yen coin, about one kosaji, per garlic clove, and two and a half of those for a knob of ginger. A friend's mother is teaching you her recipe.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 塩をひとつまみ入れて。 | Shio o hitotsumami irete. | Put in a pinch of salt. |
| こしょうは少々でいいよ。 | Koshō wa shōshō de ii yo. | Just a little pepper is fine. |
| しょうがはひとかけ、すりおろしてね。 | Shōga wa hitokake, surioroshite ne. | Grate one knob of ginger. |
| チューブのにんにくでもいいですか。 | Chūbu no ninniku demo ii desu ka. | Is garlic from a tube all right? |
Beyond the basics: tekiryō, tekigi and okonomi de
Some words deliberately leave the amount to you, and two of them look almost identical. Both begin with teki, suitable, yet one is compulsory and the other optional. Two flatmates puzzle over a recipe.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 「適宜」って、入れなくてもいいってこと？ | 'Tekigi' tte, irenakute mo ii tte koto? | Does tekigi mean I don't have to put it in? |
| うん、好みで入れればいいよ。 | Un, konomi de irereba ii yo. | Yes, just add it if you like. |
| じゃあ、「適量」はどのくらい？ | Jā, 'tekiryō' wa dono kurai? | Then how much is tekiryō? |
| 味を見ながら、少しずつ足してね。 | Aji o minagara, sukoshi zutsu tashite ne. | Add a little at a time while you taste. |
- Tekiryō (適量), literally a suitable amount: add it, and judge how much. Oil for the pan and salt for pasta water are typical.
- Tekigi (適宜), as the situation requires: add it only if you think the dish needs it; leaving it out is fine. Garnishes such as sesame or chopped spring onion are typical.
- Okonomi de (お好みで), as you like: whether and how much are both your choice, often for chilli oil, mustard or lemon.
- Kaku (各), each: shio, koshō kaku shōshō means a pinch each of salt and pepper.
Quantities in an ingredient list: ninbun, yaku and the A group
The general layout of a Japanese recipe and the verbs of its method are covered in separate guides to recipes and to cooking verbs; everyday sizes and weights outside the kitchen have their own guide too. What matters here is the quantity notation. The heading zairyō (材料), ingredients, is followed by the servings: futari-bun (2人分), literally portions for two people. A sauce that keeps is often given as tsukuriyasui bunryō, literally an easy-to-make quantity, meaning more than one meal's worth.
Yaku (約) means about, and parentheses give a second measure: an onion might be listed as half a piece with about 100 g in brackets. Letters such as A and B group seasonings that you mix in advance. You are reading a recipe from your phone to your partner at the stove.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 材料は2人分です。 | Zairyō wa futari-bun desu. | The ingredients are for two people. |
| 玉ねぎ2分の1個、約100グラム。 | Tamanegi nibun no ikko, yaku hyaku-guramu. | Half an onion, about 100 grams. |
| 塩、こしょう、各少々。 | Shio, koshō, kaku shōshō. | Salt and pepper, a pinch of each. |
| Aの調味料は先に混ぜておいてね。 | Ē no chōmiryō wa saki ni mazete oite ne. | Mix the A seasonings together first. |
| これは作りやすい分量だから、半分でいいよ。 | Kore wa tsukuriyasui bunryō dakara, hanbun de ii yo. | This is a batch amount, so half is plenty. |
Common mistakes with Japanese measures
Using an American cup for kappu. Recipes from English-language sites teach you that a cup is about 240 ml, a fifth more than the Japanese 200. In sauces and baking the difference shows, so use a jug marked in millilitres.
Swapping the rice cup and the measuring cup. Both are called cups in English and look alike on the counter. Rice goes in the 180 ml cup so that the cooker's water lines match; everything else uses 200 ml.
Assuming every tablespoon is 15 ml. An Australian tablespoon holds 20 ml, so a cook from there adds a third too much of every seasoning. The Japanese ōsaji matches the 15 ml British and American spoon.
Treating tekigi as compulsory. Learners see teki in both words and assume both mean add some. Tekigi lets you skip the ingredient; tekiryō does not.
Heaping the spoon. Home cooks elsewhere often measure rounded spoonfuls. Japanese recipes assume surikiri unless yamamori is written, and a heaped spoon of salt or sugar is noticeably more.