Shimizumon Gate 清水門

Official explanation

Shimizumon (“Spring Water”) Gate was one of many gates along the Senba River that gave access to the castle town. The gate was named for a nearby water source, the “Spring of the Heron” (sagi no shimizu) that feeds the adjacent reservoir and well. The reservoir is connected to the moat by sluice gates that could be used to adjust the moat’s water level.

Entering here meant passing through a pair of double-doored gateways separated by an inner courtyard. The outer gate was a west-facing koraimon-style gate with a pair of transverse auxiliary roofs extending into the inner courtyard. The larger, south-facing inner gate had a watchtower built above it. To oversee gate security, a small guardhouse was located just beyond the inner gate. Because the inner gate stood at a right angle to the outer one, attacking enemy forces could not charge straight through the passage. They had to slow and change direction, giving defenders more time to repel them.

出典: 地域観光資源の多言語解説文データベース（観光庁） — www.mlit.go.jp/tagengo-db. この英語解説文は観光庁の地域観光資源の多言語解説整備支援事業で作成しました。
Source: Japan Tourism Agency, Multilingual Explanation Database. This English text was produced by the Japan Tourism Agency's multilingual explanation project and is shown unedited. Opening hours and services may have changed since it was written.