Ōhorikiri and Tenbin Yagura 大堀切（堀切、石垣の積み方）

Official explanation

Large Dry Moat (Ōhorikiri)

The ōhorikiri is a massive trench that separates the embankments of the Bell Bailey (Kanenomaru) and Drum Bailey (Taikomaru). The trench is spanned by an otoshibashi, a bridge that could be collapsed when the castle came under attack to create an impassable 8-meter drop. Charging into the castle, attackers would be forced to stop at the ōhorikiri, where they would be exposed to bow and arquebus fire from the pair of three-story turrets on the tenbin yagura. Although Japanese castles are often built on a series of raised earthen embankments, the combination of ōhorikiri and otoshibashi is rare. A similar earthwork lies between the west bailey and outer ward (deguruwa).

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Tenbin Yagura

This turret, which guards the Taikomaru Bailey and by extension the main bailey, is called the tenbin yagura, meaning “scales turret.” The name is an allusion to the balanced, symmetrical structure of the turret, which resembles a scales. This turret’s aesthetically pleasing design is unique among the Japanese castles that remain today. Hikone’s tenbin yagura is thought to once have been the main gate of Nagahama Castle, not far from the east shore of Lake Biwa, which was dismantled in the early seventeenth century when the shogunate decreed that each domain could have only one castle.

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.