🏞️ Cho Area Converter (町 to ha)

The Cho Area Converter converts between cho (町) and modern area units. The cho is the largest traditional Japanese land area unit, equal to 10 tan (反) or approximately 9917.4 m2 - almost exactly 1 hectare.

The cho is the closest traditional Japanese unit to the hectare. In agricultural planning, farm sizes are often described in cho: a 3-cho rice farm (about 3 hectares) is a typical family farm scale. The cho was abolished for legal use in 1966 but persists in farming communities.

Conversion formula:

Key conversions:

• 1 cho = 9917.4 m2 = 0.99174 ha
• 1 cho = 10 tan = 3000 tsubo
• 1 cho = 2.451 acres
• 1 hectare = 1.0083 cho (nearly 1:1)

The cho-to-hectare ratio is 0.9917, meaning 1 cho is about 0.83% smaller than 1 hectare. For practical agricultural purposes, the two are often treated as equivalent.

For smaller parcels, see our tan (1,000 m2) converter. For real estate floor area, the tsubo converter is standard. The general area converter handles m2, acres, and hectares.

1. Enter the area in cho (e.g. 3 for a family rice farm).
2. Select the target unit.
3. Click Convert for instant results.
4. Compare with the hectare equivalent.

How many m2 is one cho?

One cho equals 9917.4 m2 (exactly 1200000/121 m2). This is 99.17% of a hectare, making the cho almost identical to the hectare for practical purposes.

Is one cho the same as one hectare?

Nearly. 1 cho = 9917.4 m2, while 1 hectare = 10000 m2. The difference is only 0.83%. Japanese farmers often use the terms interchangeably: "3-cho" and "3-hectare" farms are essentially the same size.

What is the difference between cho and tan?

1 cho = 10 tan. The cho is the larger unit (~1 hectare), while the tan is approximately 1000 m2 (10 are). Both are used for agricultural land, with cho describing larger farms and tan for smaller parcels.

How much rice does 1 cho produce?

One cho of rice paddy yields approximately 3,000-5,000 kg of polished rice per harvest. This is enough to feed 6-10 people for a year, depending on consumption. Yield varies by variety, weather, and farming technique.

Is cho still used in Japan?

The cho is no longer used in legal documents (hectares and m2 are standard), but it remains common in agricultural conversation, older land records, and farming community discussions. Agricultural cooperatives (JA) may still reference cho in internal communications.

Cho vs hectare. One cho (9917 m2) is almost identical to one hectare (10000 m2), differing by only 0.83%. Japanese farmers often use the terms interchangeably: "3-cho farm" and "3-hectare farm" mean virtually the same thing.

Typical farm sizes in cho. A family rice farm: 2-5 cho. A part-time farmer: 0.5-1 cho. A large commercial farm (Hokkaido): 10-50+ cho. These sizes are still commonly discussed in cho despite official metric records.

Rice yield per cho. One cho of paddy yields approximately 3-5 tons of polished rice (about 10 times the per-tan yield). At 300 yen/kg wholesale, a 5-cho farm produces about 4.5-7.5 million yen of rice per year.

Historical context. The cho was the standard tax-assessment unit for agricultural land during the Edo period. Domain wealth was partly measured in total cho of productive farmland, alongside the koku (rice volume) assessment.