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JAANUS

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  • (-) Castles (27)
  • Architecture (27)

Displaying 1 - 27 of 27
Title Contains Image(s) Description Keywords
obiguruwa 帯郭

Lit. "belt compound." A long narrow castle compound. Obiguruwa were often constructed on the top of an earthen…

Architecture, Castles
ōgi-no-kōbai 扇の勾配 ✓

Lit. "fan slope." Also ōgikōbai 扇勾配 or miyakōbai 宮勾配 (shrine slope). The concave pitch of a stone…

Architecture, Castles
ōgi-no-nawa 扇の縄

Also written 扇子の縄. A castle plan shaped like a folding fan wherein the fortifications are distributed on either side of the…

Architecture, Castles
okajō 丘城

Lit. "hillcastle." Also termed kyūryō jōkaku 丘陵城郭.
1 A castle built on a hillock, oka…

Architecture, Castles
oribei 折塀

A castle wall that is undulates with indentations and protrusions. It is designed to allow for the strategic placement of…

Architecture, Castles
orizama 折狭間

A loophole in a wall *oribei 折塀 that zigzags back and forth like a folding screen *…

Architecture, Castles
ōte 大手

Also written 追手.
The front of a castle or fortification. Contrast with karamete 搦手 (the rear of a castle…

Architecture, Castles
ōtemon 大手門

The front gate of a castle. Derive from *ōte 大手, the front of a castle or…

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