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JAANUS

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  • d (12)
  • f (3)
  • g (2)
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  • i (12)
  • j (4)
  • k (30)
  • m (11)
  • n (10)
  • o (8)
  • r (3)
  • s (23)
  • t (22)
  • u (9)
  • w (3)
  • y (19)
  • (-) Castles (33)
  • Architecture (33)
  • Gates (2)
  • General Terms (1)

Displaying 1 - 33 of 33
Title Contains Image(s) Description Keywords
naijō 内城

The innermost compound *kuruwa 郭 of a castle. Sometimes called *…

Architecture, Castles
nakajō 中城

Also *ni-no-maru 二の丸, ni-no-kuruwa 二の郭, naka-no-maru 中の丸.…

Architecture, Castles
nawabari 縄張 ✓

Castle plan; general term for the layout of a castle and its component structures. Lit. "stretched rope," the term is said…

Architecture, Castles
negoya 根小屋

The *jōkamachi 城下町, or town below the castle in the late medieval…

Architecture, Castles
nejiro 根城

Also read nejō. Lit. "root castle." The base of military operations. When several castles comprise a unit, …

Architecture, Castles
ni-no-maru 二の丸

Lit. "second circle." The second compound outside of, or immediately adjacent to the main compound *…

Architecture, Castles
nishi-no-maru 西の丸

A castle compound to the west of the main compound *honmaru 本丸. In a early-…

Architecture, Castles
noroshidai 烽火台

Also pronounced hōkadai. Also noroshidai 狼煙台 or noroshiba 狼煙場. A fire beacon; a stone platform on…

Architecture, Castles
nozurazumi 野面積 ✓

1 Also called *ishigaki 石垣; ishigaketsumi 石崖積; …

Architecture, Castles
nunozuki 布築

Lit. "cloth construction." Ashlar construction. Also termed nunozumi 布積 (cloth piling). A technique used in dry…

Architecture, Castles
saku 柵

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

Architecture, Castles
sama 狭間 ✓

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

Architecture, Castles
samakubari 狭間配

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

Architecture, Castles
satojiro 里城

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

Architecture, Castles
seirō 井楼

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

Architecture, Castles
sekimon 石門

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

Architecture, Gates, Castles
sekishōmon 石牆門

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…

Architecture, Gates, Castles
shibadoi 芝土居

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

Architecture, Castles
shihōzumi 四方積

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

Architecture, Castles
shijō 支城

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

Architecture, Castles
shirodori nawabari 城取縄張

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

Architecture, Castles
shōjibori 障子堀

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

Architecture, Castles
shukujiro 宿城

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

Architecture, General Terms, Castles
sodemasugata 袖桝形

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

Architecture, Castles
sōgamae 総構

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

Architecture, Castles
sotobori 外堀 ✓

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

Architecture, Castles
sōtōgata tenshu 層塔型天守

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

Architecture, Castles
sumi-ishi 隅石 ✓

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

Architecture, Castles
sumijiri-ishi 隅尻石

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

Architecture, Castles
sumiumadashi 隅馬出

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

Architecture, Castles
sumiyagura 隅櫓 ✓

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…

Architecture, Castles
sutebori 捨堀

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

Architecture, Castles
suteguruwa 捨郭

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

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