ōtemon 大手門

The front gate of a castle. Derive from *ōte 大手, the front of a castle or the front of the enemy ranks in battle. The rear gate of a castle is called *karametemon 搦手門. Note that there may have been more than one ōtemon and karametemon at a single castle. For example, at the now lost Nagoya-jō 名古屋城, there was an ōtemon as expected at the front but also on both the east and west sides. The architectural type used for the ōtemon was typically a two-storied tower gate *yaguramon 櫓門. Numerous extant ōtemon survive, e.g. Nijō-jō Higashi Ōtemon 二条城東大手門 (1603), Kyoto.