A Japanese castle. Refers to 25 castles constructed in various regions of Korea by the Japanese forces during the Bunroku-Keichō 文禄-慶長 war (1592-97), during the Japanese Momoyama period. Many were built on the coast for easy sea access: several were located in the Busan 釜山 area in southeastern Korea.
The castle plans and surviving ruins indicate that the castles had a main compound *honmaru 本丸, second compound *ni-no-maru 二の丸, and third compound san-no-maru 三の丸. Wajō also had moats, ramparts, stone walls, parapets, gates, including two-story gates, towers *yagura 櫓, and row houses *nagaya 長屋; all features that were important in castles built in Japan. A surviving record entitled Ōkawauchi monogatari 大河内物語 provides details about Urusan-jō 蔚山城 in southeastern Korea. It shows three compounds with a large outer moat and several gateways. Seiseiho-jō 西生浦城 in Ryosan 梁山 Province is unusual in that it is built on a 200 m high hill which is completely surrounded in Korean style by a stone-faced wall *ishigaki 石垣.