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tamon@‘½•·
KEY WORD :@architecture / castles
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Also termed tamon-zukuri ‘½•·‘¢, tamon'yagura ‘½•·˜E, lit. "many listen tower" and tamon nagaya ‘½•·’·‰®, lit. "many gate long gallery".
A long, narrow, continuously roofed timber-frame structure *nagaya ’·‰®@built on a stone faced embankment *ishigaki Ί_, that runs between a castle's corner towers. Classified as a type of castle tower *yagura ˜E. The walls are aligned with the plane of the stone faced embankment and the outer castle walls. The tamon usually has plastered walls and a tiled roof, and was often fitted with loopholes *sama pŠÔ and sometimes even a stone-drop *ishi-otoshi ΗŽ‚µ. Sometimes the tamon occupied the majority of the space above the stone faced embankment, protecting the castle wall behind it by stopping rainwater from getting into the earth foundations of the wall, and blocking the narrow path *inubashiri Œ¢‘–‚è on the embankment, thus denying enemies a useful foothold. Between one and three storeys in height, the tamon served various functions including a hiding place for troops in wartime, or an armory@or storehouse in peacetime.
The name 'tamon' is said to be derived from Matsunaga Hisahide's ¼‰i‹vG (1510-1577) Tamon'yamajou ‘½•·ŽRé (1559) in Nara, which had a similar structure. Alternatively, the name tamon may refer to the guardian deity of the north@*Bishamonten ”ù¹–å“V, known as *Tamonten ‘½•·“V, whom Kusunoki Masashige “í–س¬ (1294-1336) is thought to have installed as a tutelary deity in one of his castle towers. There are many extant examples, including Hikonejou •Fªé Sawaguchi ²˜aŒû Tamon'yagura where the tamon is used as a connecting tower *watariyagura “n˜E flanking the east and west sides of Sawaguchi gate; Fukuokajou •Ÿ‰ªé South Ward Tamon'yagura, a single-storey structure with a double roofed corner tower; and Kanazawajou ‹à‘òé, which has a thirty bay gallery with two stories that was built as a powder magazine.
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