Keywords
Architecture
Castles
Lit. "ladder-shaped compound plan." Short for teikakushiki nawabari 梯郭式縄張. A plan that fortified a castle entrance *koguchi 虎口, by connecting several barriers *umadashi 馬出, along an axis rather than enclosing one within the other. Since umadashi usually consist of a walled barrier enclosing a space, the continuous series of barriers and spaces must have resembled the rungs of a ladder.