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JAANUS

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  • (-) Castles (37)
  • Architecture (37)

Displaying 1 - 37 of 37
Title Contains Image(s) Description Keywords
hachimaki doi 鉢巻土居

A "headband" earthen embankment. An earthen embankment with a stone wall constructed on the upper portion. Also …

Architecture, Castles
hanebashi 桔橋

Also written 刎橋. A draw bridge. A bridge that has a metal hinge attached to the castle side and a rope attached to the the…

Architecture, Castles
hanmasugata 半桝形

A type of protective box-shaped enclosure *masugata 桝形, found at a castle…

Architecture, Castles
heishitaji nuki-no-ireyō 塀下地貫入様

A method used to insert braces into an earthen wall. One brace was placed above the upper cross piece. Another brace was…

Architecture, Castles
heishitaji 塀下地 The material used to build an earthen wall for a castle. This material must be harder than that used for residences in… Architecture, Castles
hikaebei 控塀

Any upright pole or post which forms the inner core of an earthen wall with a tiled and gabled roof. One example is found…

Architecture, Castles
hikaegui 控杭 Any upright pole or post added to the inside of a castle wall for extra support. While hikaegui increased the strength of… Architecture, Castles
hikihashi 引橋

1 Lit. a pull bridge. A type bridge that can be pulled into a castle. One such example is the …

Architecture, Castles
hira-ishi 平石

Also tsuki-ishi 築石. Broad, flat construction stones used to build the main sections of stone walls *…

Architecture, Castles
hirajiro 平城

Lit. flatland castle. A castle built on a plain with the main defensive elements being rivers, swamps, and man-made moats.…

Architecture, Castles
hirayamajiro 平山城

Also read hirasanjiro. Lit. flatland mountain castle. A castle built on a low mountain, defined as 20 to 100 m high…

Architecture, Castles
hizumiguruwa 邪郭

Also written 斜郭. A diagonal section of wall forming part of a gateway barrier *…

Architecture, Castles
hōkeiyakata 方形館

Lit. Square-shape mansion. A medieval fortified military-class mansion that is surrounded by a square-shaped, or more…

Architecture, Castles
honjō 本城

1 The main or central fortification withina single castle. It is similar to *…

Architecture, Castles
honmaru 本丸

Lit. main circle. The principal compound in a castle complex which has more than one compound or ward. It is often, but not…

Architecture, Castles
hori 堀 ✓

A moat that completely or partially surrounds a castle, palace, or mansion. Moats are primarily for protection but may…

Architecture, Castles
horikiri 堀切

A dry moat *karabori 空堀, dug to separate and hinder passage between two peaks…

Architecture, Castles
horiuchimichi 堀内道

A pathway that runs along the bottom of a dry moat *karabori 空堀. Dry moats…

Architecture, Castles
yagenbori 薬研堀

A widely used moat with sides that slope like an earthen embankment. The name is derived from the moat having a bottom with…

Architecture, Castles
yagura 櫓 ✓

A guard tower set atop the corners of a castle's stone wall and other strategic positions overlooking the surrounding area.…

Architecture, Castles
yakatajiro 館城

Also written 屋形城.

1 A structure that combines the daily living quarters of a mansion with the…

Architecture, Castles
yamajiro-no-koguchi 山城の虎口

A mountain castle entrance. The entrance *koguchi 虎口 of a mountain…

Architecture, Castles
yamajiro 山城 ✓

Lit. "mountain castle." A castle built on a mountain to take advantage of the mountain's topography. One of the three main…

Architecture, Castles
yamame uchikomizumi 山目打込積み

Lit. "mountain eye pounding and inserting piling." A dry construction method used to pile stones for a stone wall *…

Architecture, Castles
yarisama 鑓狭間

A loophole for thrusting pikes and spears. Typically, they are installed in narrow locations beside main castle entrances…

Architecture, Castles
yashikijiro 屋敷城

A small castle or fortification built like a a country house or mansion yashiki 屋敷. In the middle ages, it usually…

Architecture, Castles
yazama 矢狭間

An arrow loophole in a castle wall. Also sengan 箭眼. Characterized by a vertical opening about 45 cm high (1 …

Architecture, Castles
yō no koguchi 陽の虎口

Positive castle entrance or yang entrance. A generic term for various types of castle entrance *…

Architecture, Castles
yōgai 要害

Also written 用害.

1 A place of strategic importance, having steep terrain that is easy to defend. In…

Architecture, Castles
yokobori 横堀

A lateral dry moat excavated crosswise in front of a mountain castle *yamajiro…

Architecture, Castles
yokosama 横狭間

A side loophole of the *yarisama 鑓狭間 type for pike and spears. Typically…

Architecture, Castles
yokoya 横矢

Lit. "side arrow."

1 Attacking from the side. Also sokusha 側射, sokubō 側防. An…

Architecture, Castles
yokoya hizumi 横矢邪

Also written 横矢斜 and 横矢歪. Lit. "distorted rampart." A diagonal projection from a castle rampart. Used by defending troops to…

Architecture, Castles
yokoya masugata 横矢桝形

Also termed demasugata 出桝形. A defensive box-shaped courtyard *masugata…

Architecture, Castles
yokoya sumi-otoshi 横矢角落 ✓

Also written 横矢隅落. A diagonally cut-away corner of a castle tower, used to launch side attacks *…

Architecture, Castles
yosekakebashira 寄掛柱

A post set against a castle's sloping stone wall, at the same angle of incline, under the watch tower gate *…

Architecture, Castles
yukidomariguruwa 行留郭

A cul-de-sac compound. A long and narrow castle compound with only one gateway entrance which turns into a blind alley.…

Architecture, Castles

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JAANUS is the on-line Dictionary of Japanese Architectural and Art Historical Terminology compiled by Dr. Mary Neighbour Parent.

Originally built by the Atsumi International Scholarship Foundation, it is now hosted and maintained by the Media Center for Art History at Columbia University