Sama

What sama are

Sama are small openings cut in the wall of a turret or a rampart wall for shooting through. Wide inside and narrow outside, they give the defender a field of view while making the opening hard to hit from beyond.

They are set at even intervals. The ten-bay corridor at Matsuyama Castle in Ehime Prefecture, reconstructed in 1967, is described as a single room with no ceiling and the roof frame exposed, with these openings ranged in an even line along its outer west wall, in a building the entry calls a key point in the defence of the Tenshu.

Gates carry them too. The Tsutsui gate at the same castle, reconstructed in 1971, is described as a Yaguramon with a side door set between stone walls, its upper level joined to adjoining turrets, with windows front and back and these openings cut round the front, Shitami-itabari below the transom line matching the other turrets.

Forms differ by weapon. Openings for the bow are tall and narrow; those for the gun are small circles or triangles. A single wall may carry both.

Concealed openings

Some are finished so as to be invisible from outside. The city of Ozu records that the south corner turret of the third bailey at Ozu Castle in Ehime Prefecture has bamboo tubes set into its double bulletproof wall and three openings of this kind covered over with Shikkui so that nothing shows externally.

The wall reads as solid until the plaster is broken through in an emergency. Since nothing is visible from outside, records and surveys are the only way to know they are there.

On site, look low on the wall. Small openings at even intervals are the feature, and their shape, tall and narrow or small and geometric, indicates which weapon they were cut for.