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JAANUS

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  • j (4)
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  • w (3)
  • y (19)
  • (-) Castles (31)
  • Architecture (31)
  • Gates (1)

Displaying 1 - 31 of 31
Title Contains Image(s) Description Keywords
ibaraki 茨城

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

Architecture, Castles
ichi no mon 一の門

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

Architecture, Gates, Castles
iejiro 家城

Lit. house castle.

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

Architecture, Castles
in no koguchi 陰の虎口

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

Architecture, Castles
in'yō no kuruwa 陰陽の郭

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

Architecture, Castles
inagi 稲城

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

Architecture, Castles
isama 居狭間

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

Architecture, Castles
ishi no hikae 石の控え

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

Architecture, Castles
ishi-otoshi 石落 ✓

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

Architecture, Castles
ishigaki 石垣 ✓

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

Architecture, Castles
ishisama 石狭間

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

Architecture, Castles
ishiuchidana 石打棚

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

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