|
The large tower seen in many pictures of castles is the donjon, or main keep. It is nestled in the most central courtyard among the maze of moats, walls, gates and courtyards that make up a castle. The donjon is not the castle itself. It is only one part of the castle. In fact, not all castles even had a donjon. Many early castles or mountaintop castles did not have one. When a donjon was burned down by fire or destroyed in an earthquake, it was sometimes not rebuilt. This is because during the relatively peaceful times of the Edo Period the donjon was less important than earlier times, the costs may have been too prohibitive or in some cases the Tokugawa government simply wouldn't give permission to a lord to rebuild the donjon. During the Edo Period, lords were required to get approval for any major improvements to their castles. Donjon were built on top of a high stone foundation or along the top of the stone wall on the edge of the bailey. Like all Japanese architecture, castles relied heavily on wooden construction. This made them much more vulnerable to fire and artillery than the stone keeps of European castles. The exterior walls of most donjon, as well as other castle fortifications, were covered with thick layers of plaster for protection from fire and artillery. Even so, a great many castles have burned to the ground from fires caused by earthquakes, lightning or attack. The fear of fire was so prevalent that killer whale talismans (shachi) were mounted on top of all donjon and many other fortifications to protect them from fire. Donjon can be classified by two major methods, the architectural structure and the style of the donjon. It's difficult to explain some of the concepts with words or with the pictures I have, so I created some basic Google Sketchup diagrams that you can see for each subcategory below. These are intended to be simple visual aids and not perfect scale reproductions. StructureThere are two architectural structure types for donjon: sotogata and borogata. It is usually fairly easy to distinguish between the two. Borogata has an irimoya gable (see the starred part of the picture below) and it looks like the lower floor(s) and the upper floor(s) are of different styles, with the upper floors being square. If not, it is sotogata.
Borogata (望楼型)Borogata literally means "lookout tower type." This is the older type of donjon built when the techniques for building stone foundations were less advanced. It is built on an irregular shaped stone foundation that is not perfectly square. An irimoya style gabled roof is used on the first or second floor to provide a roof for the lower levels of the donjon. A square shape is created in the middle of this roof on which the upper levels of the donjon are built. The upper levels are square and balanced. It should give the impression of a lookout tower mounted atop another building. Here are some representative Borogata type donjon. Aya Castle, in particular, exemplifies the look of a watchtower built atop another building.
Sotogata (層塔型)Sotogata literally means multi-leveled tower type. This type of donjon is built when the foundation is nearly square. Each level is the same shape, simply a little smaller than the previous. You will not see any irimoya gables on a sotogata type donjon. The smaller gables you do see on sotogata donjon are primarily decorative and are not a necessary part of the roofing construction of the castle. StyleDonjon rarely stood alone and were often attached to smaller sections of yagura, small keeps, or large gates or walls to strengthen their defense. How they are connected to other structures determines the donjon style. Compound - Fukugoshiki (複合式)The donjon is directly connected to a smaller donjon or yagura.
Adjoined - Renketsushiki (連結式)The donjon is connected to a smaller donjon or yagura by a watari-yagura. I picked Matsumoto Castle below as one example of a renketsushiki donjon, but actually Matsumoto Castle exemplifies both Fukugoshiki and Renketsushiki. The Inui Kotenshu is connected by a watari yagura, makiing it renketsushiki, but the Tatsumi Tsuki-yagura on the opposite side is connected directly to teh castle making it fukugoshiki.
Complex - Renritsushiki (連立式)The donjon and multiple smaller donjon/yagura are each connected by watari-yagura or tamon yagura to completely enclose a small courtyard or the entire honmaru bailey.
Independent - Dokuritsushiki (独立式)The donjon stands independently of other yagura.
|
