Also aiyokoya 合横矢. Lit. loophole for opposing lateral arrows. A loophole constructed in a castle wall or rampart to…

Also written 空城. An empty castle or fortress from which the lord and/or his defensive garrison have withdrawn, either…

Also read aisaka. A type of warrior run *mushabashiri 武者走, where…

Also written 安土馬出. A type of defensive gateway barrier *umadashi 馬出,…

Short for zaiban shijō 在番支城. A branch castle *shijō 支城, with…

A lookout tower set atop the roof of a residence *kyokan 居館, usually a…

Also termed *orihei 折塀 (folding wall). A castle wall that zig-zags…

Fort. An Ainu アイヌ term for a fortification surrounded by a stockade fence or palisade *…

Lit. cross-stitch layout. Also read chigirinawa. Also written 蟄亀利縄. A generic term for various types of castle…

An extremely low embankment *dote 土手, beside a castle moat *…

Also termed fujōnagashi 不浄流. A garbage drop. An area for discarding garbage and human and animal excrement from…

A passageway in a castle, used to clean out the moat. An opening in the wall of the main compound of a castle *…

Also termed chōrui 長塁, bōrui 防塁. A long defensive fortification consisting of a continuous, extended…

Lit. Korean type mountain castle. A general term for castle structures in Japan that resemble those in ancient Korea.…

A fort located at a strategic location on a sea coast, riverbank, or island. It was furnished with large guns. Daiba were…

Also written 大陰虎口. A simple, early form of castle entrance *koguchi …

Lit. large *tenshu 天守. The principal tower. The largest tenshu in a…

A wall projecting 15-30 cm outward from the flat top, *inubashiri 犬走り, of a…

A compound that juts out or is slightly separated from the main components of a castle complex, which include: the main…

1　Outer citadel. Also tsukejiro 付け城, hajiro 端城, edajiro 枝城. A type of branch…

A loophole, *sama 狭間, that projects out from the frame of a window opening in…

1　Lit. earthen bridge. An earthen bridge, which is made by leaving an unexcavated section of moat in front…

Also dorui 土塁. An earthen embankment, earthwork, or rampart. A defensive embankment surrounding a castle or a…

The foundation bed, shiki 敷, of an earthen embankment, *doi 土居. It has…

Lit. independent donjon or keep. Also called dokuritsushiki tenshu 独立式天守, dokuritsu tenshukaku 独立天守閣. A…

1　The flat top of an embankment, *doi 土居, also called *…

A gate without doors. It may be a roofed opening in a fence or wall, but no gate leaves are hung on the structure.

Also fukugōshiki tenshu 複合式天守. A large tower, *daitenshu 大天守, with…

Also called taikobei 太鼓塀 or drum wall. A double castle wall that consisted of two separate walls between which…

One type of warrior run *mushabashiri 武者走, comprised of stone steps …

Burdock masonry. A construction technique used to lay the stones in a dry stone wall *…

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

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…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lit. house castle.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lit. camp fortress. A temporary fortification constructed on a battlefield or stopping-place by armies on the march, used…

Lit. town below the castle. A castle town. A town's fortress was located as a rule in a mountain, while the accompanying…

1　A fence around a castle. See *saku 柵.

…

Lit. regular side arrow.

1　An arrow, gun or cannon attack from inside a castle on the left side of…

Lit. mirror piling. A method of masonry used for a stone wall *ishigaki 石垣.…

Also written 架橋 and 懸橋. A wooden bridge that spans a water-filled moat. Supported by posts, the bridge can be removed when a…

A type of defensive gateway barrier *umadashi 馬出, consisting of an earthen…

Also written 隠口. A hidden castle entrance.

1　A castle entrance *…

Kamae is an earthen embankment constructed so that it cannot be invaded by an enemy. It has the same meaning as *…

A settlement surrounded by a moat. The earliest enclosed settlement appeared about 2000 years ago and is associated with the…

A dry moat, usually with a V-shaped cross-section called *yagenbori 薬研堀. The…

Also karameteguchi 搦手口. Term used for the rear gate of a castle from the medieval period onward. Term used in…

Multiple barriers *umadashi 馬出, erected or naturally occurring…

Also read kasanarizaka. A type of warrior run *mushabashiri…

An arrowroot vine fortress. A temporary fortification that dates to the ancient period. Similar to a briar tree fortresses…

Also written 風子, 翳. Lit. shade. Walls, embankments, or plants used to prevent the enemy from seeing the activities inside a…

Sometimes also written 木戸. A castle door or gate. The entrance and exit to a medieval castle. A simpler structure than the…

Lit. tortoise shell stack. Also called roppōzumi 六法積; or hachi-no-su 蜂の巣 meaning honeycomb or bee hive. An…

A road, or entrance, that is constructed by cutting through mountainous or hilly terrain, leaving sharply hewed vertical…

A man-made, precipitous bank or steep bluff excavated while constructing a road through mountainous terrain *…

Lit. cut and inserted masonry. A type of stone wall *ishigaki 石垣 construction…

Ancient castle ruins in Western Japan. Rows of stones arranged on mountain slopes in Kyūshū 九州 and Western Japan, including…

Lit. tiger mouth. A castle entrance. An early modern term likening the castle gateway to the tooth and fang of a tiger,…

Lit. child castle. A branch castle. The main castle is called oyajiro 親城 (parent castle).

Lit. waist compound. In a mountain castle *yamajiro 山城, a…

Also termed koshimaki-ishigaki 腰巻石垣, a waist-bandstone wall. A stone wall built around the lower part of an earthen…

A small subsidiary tower. When a castle complex has two or more donjons, the largest is called *…

Staggered embankments. A castle-wall design where the left and right embankments *doi…

Also pronounced guri-ishi. Chestnut stones. Small stones (10-30 cm in diameter) that were used as packing or…

Also written 曲輪. The general term for a castle compound. In the medieval period, when a mountain castle *…

A crumbling wall. A type of stone fence *ishigaki 石垣 in which stones are…

Also read ijō and ijiro. A castle or fortification in which the castle lord resides on a daily basis…

1　A manor or palace, yakata 館, where a lord resides.

2　In the case…

A corner loophole or gunport. Loopholes made at a ninety-degree corner of a castle wall, rather than in a flat wall. The…

Also bafumi, hirami 褶. The flat top of an earthen embankment *doi…

Lit. "section breaks." A technique used to build a castle wall. Separate sections of the castle wall *…

A type of defensive gateway barrier *umadashi 馬出 consisting of…

Also written 升形. Lit. "square measuring box." A square enclosed by an earthen embankment, stone wall, moat or gates used to…

A type of castle entrance *koguchi 虎口 protected by a square…