A fort located at a strategic location on a sea coast, riverbank, or island. It was furnished with large guns. Daiba were…

Also written 大陰虎口. A simple, early form of castle entrance *koguchi …

Lit. large *tenshu 天守. The principal tower. The largest tenshu in a…

A wall projecting 15-30 cm outward from the flat top, *inubashiri 犬走り, of a…

A compound that juts out or is slightly separated from the main components of a castle complex, which include: the main…

1　Outer citadel. Also tsukejiro 付け城, hajiro 端城, edajiro 枝城. A type of branch…

A loophole, *sama 狭間, that projects out from the frame of a window opening in…

1　Lit. earthen bridge. An earthen bridge, which is made by leaving an unexcavated section of moat in front…

Also dorui 土塁. An earthen embankment, earthwork, or rampart. A defensive embankment surrounding a castle or a…

The foundation bed, shiki 敷, of an earthen embankment, *doi 土居. It has…

Lit. independent donjon or keep. Also called dokuritsushiki tenshu 独立式天守, dokuritsu tenshukaku 独立天守閣. A…

1　The flat top of an embankment, *doi 土居, also called *…

1　Fence. Read ki (also written 城) in the ancient period. A palisade of stakes aligned at regular…

Also read hasama. A loophole or porthole made in the wall of the keep, tower, or parapet to allow a castle to…

Lit. "loophole distribution." The number of loopholes per two meter (one ken 間) interval in a castle. Also refers…

A village castle. A medieval castle built in a low-lying village. Typically furnished with defensive installations.

Also termed seirō yagura 井楼櫓. A watch tower. Seirō were built from the Muromachi to the early…

1　Also read ishimon. A gate made almost entirely of stone, seen especially in Okinawa Prefecture.…

Also written 石墻門. Lit. "stone wall gate." A gate with either single or triple arch-like openings in a wall made of stacked…

A grass-covered earthen embankment *doi 土居. The embankment is shaped like a…

Lit. "four quarters piling." Also termed masugatazumi 桝形積 (square measuring box piling), and chikei-no-…

Also read edajiro 枝城. Also hajō 端城. Lit. "branch castle." A fortification, other than the main castle…

The process of castle construction, from site selection to the layout of the compound. Early modern military technicians…

Also termed kakubori 角堀 (a moat with squared off ridges), or unebori 畝堀 (the general term for a furrowed…

1　Edo period towns used as a stopping place by the Tokugawa 徳川 shoguns when they traveled outside the city…

A defensive square projection in a castle wall on one side of the castle entrance *…

Also termed sōgawa 総河, sometimes written 総側 or 総川, sōguruwa 総郭, 総曲輪. The enclosure that surrounds a town…

The outer moat of a castle that has two or more moats. Generally, the inner slope, nearer the castle, is steep while the…

Also termed sōtō tenshu 層塔天守. A multi-storied castle tower. A technically advanced tower employing the same careful…

Also read kado-ishi 角石. Lit. "corner stone." Long, rectangularly-hewn stones laid horizontally at the corners of a…

Lit. "corner tail stone." The stone that butts against the rear face tomozura 友面 of the corner stone *…

A castle entrance barrier *umadashi 馬出, erected at the corner of an…

A corner tower. Also written 角櫓. A timber-framed tower set on the corner of a castle wall where two stone walls jut out. In…

Moats dug in open areas some distance from a castle, to hinder the advance of enemy forces.

A sacrificial compound constructed in front of a main compound. A camp used to launch an attacking force. When a force moves…