Fort. An Ainu アイヌ term for a fortification surrounded by a stockade fence or palisade *…

Lit. cross-stitch layout. Also read chigirinawa. Also written 蟄亀利縄. A generic term for various types of castle…

An extremely low embankment *dote 土手, beside a castle moat *…

Also termed fujōnagashi 不浄流. A garbage drop. An area for discarding garbage and human and animal excrement from…

A passageway in a castle, used to clean out the moat. An opening in the wall of the main compound of a castle *…

Also termed chōrui 長塁, bōrui 防塁. A long defensive fortification consisting of a continuous, extended…

Lit. Korean type mountain castle. A general term for castle structures in Japan that resemble those in ancient Korea.…

Lit. thorn tree fortress. A simple and usually temporary fortress surrounded by thorn trees or briar bushes to defend it…

The first or main gate of a castle. At Matsuyamajō 松山城 in Ehime Prefecture, the gate plan was square *…

Lit. house castle.

1　A castle in the stage of historical development from a strictly military…

Defensive castle entrance, or yin entrance. A generic term for various types castle entrance *…

Defensive castle compounds in no kuruwa 陰の郭 and offensive castle compounds yō no kuruwa 陽の郭. In Chinese,…

Also read inaki. Lit. rice plant fortress. A small and temporary defensive palisade of bundles or sheaves of rice…

Loopholes or gun ports that are cut in a castle wall at the height of a seated defender's shoulder. The holes are mainly…

The depth of a stone in a stone wall *ishigaki 石垣. This is the…

Also termed ishi otoshimado 石落窓. Stone drop, or stone drop window. A castle installation built into the keep *…

A dry stone wall. A retaining stone foundation wall built without binding materials over an inclined earthen embankment.…

A stone loophole used to fire a gun through a castle wall. Unlike the usual loopholes *…

A shelf or platform from which stones or small rocks were hurled against an enemy. This shelf or platform runs along the…