What yorikimado means
A yorikimado is described as a window with stout vertical bars set in the wall opening and a small hood or roof above it. The bars keep out intruders while admitting light and air, and the hood sheds rain. The name is explained by its frequent use at the residences of yoriki, officials under the Edo town magistrates.
It is typically used where a building faces the street and needs to look secure: on gatehouses, storehouses and the fronts of samurai houses. Degōshi is a lattice projecting from the wall, and the yorikimado is sometimes treated as a kind of degoshi, distinguished by its small roof. The Musha-mado is also a window of heavy bars but usually has no hood.
Reading the records
Records mention yorikimado on storehouses and gatehouses. The rice storehouse of the Tanaka family in Hirakata, Osaka, a single-storey clay-walled building with plaster walls and vertical boarding at the base, has two yorikimado on its south side and forms part of a dignified estate frontage. The gatehouse of another Tanaka family in Matsubara, Osaka, has plaster walls with weatherboarded base, projecting lattices and yorikimado, cited as an example of a heavy gatehouse front.
Similar windows are variously recorded as yorikimado, musha-mado or degoshi, so articles should use the record's term rather than substituting another. On site, check whether a small hood sits over a window of heavy bars.
References
- 田中家住宅米蔵（枚方市）｜国指定文化財等データベース（文化庁）
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00012587
- 田中家住宅長屋門（松原市）｜国指定文化財等データベース（文化庁）
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00007648
Last verified: 2026.09.26