What a yaguramon is
A yaguramon is a gate with a turret built above it. It carries traffic through while the upper level covers the approach, and it is normally set between stone walls.
The Tsutsui gate at Matsuyama Castle in Ehime Prefecture, reconstructed in 1971, is described as the main gate of the lower part of the inner bailey, a turret gate with a side door set between stone walls, its upper level joined to adjoining turrets to east and west, with windows front and back, Sama cut round the front, and Shitami-itabari below the transom line to match the other turrets.
The upper level often serves as a corridor. The iron-banded gate at the same castle, reconstructed in 1967, stands between the Tenshu and the small keep, roofed on two slopes in Hongawarabuki, one bay wide with one opening and a side door, with iron plates fixed at the corners of the posts, walls continuous with the keep in Shikkui and boarding, and an upper level used as a bridge corridor closed at each end by Tsuchido.
The inner gate at the same castle stands between the keep and the entrance Tamon-yagura and works the same way. Passages between the buildings of the keep group run over the tops of these gates.
Part of a square enclosure
A gate of this kind does not work alone; it forms part of a Masugata. The iron-banded gate is described as forming the enclosure on the south side of the keep and the inner gate as forming its counterpart to the north, giving the keep matching defences on both sides.
The iron banding names a finish in which plates are nailed at the corners of the posts and other vulnerable points. A gate is the weakest part of a defence, so its timber is reinforced.
A Nagayamon differs in having no upper level: rooms flank the opening on a single storey. Both display rank and provide defence, but the composition is not the same.
On site, look above the gate. Where a second storey with windows or loopholes sits on top of the gate roof, that is the type.
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs: Registered tangible cultural properties (structures)
- https://www.bunka.go.jp/seisaku/bunkazai/shokai/yukei_kenzobutsu/toroku_yukei.html
- National Cultural Properties Database: Matsuyama Castle Tsutsui gate, a turret gate between stone walls with loopholes across its front
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00014299
- National Cultural Properties Database: Matsuyama Castle iron-banded gate, a turret gate forming the southern square enclosure
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00013001
- National Cultural Properties Database: Matsuyama Castle inner gate, its upper level a bridge corridor closed by plastered doors
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00013002
Last verified: 2026.09.03