Keywords
Architecture
Castles
An arrowroot vine fortress. A temporary fortification that dates to the ancient period. Similar to a briar tree fortresses *ibaraki 茨城 and rice plant fortresses *inagi 稲城. The tough vines were spread around the fortress to provide a primitive defense against enemy incursions. The earliest mention is in the Nihon shoki 日本書紀 (Chronicles of Japan), which dates from the early 8th century.