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JAANUS

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  • (-) Castles (29)
  • Architecture (29)

Displaying 1 - 29 of 29
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
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