Keep (castle) - Keep

Japanese: キープ（城） - きーぷ

…The Norman knights' castles were built in a slightly more advanced style, known as the motte and bailey system. A motte is a small hill, and a circular dry moat was dug, the soil of which was used to build a small mound in the center, and a round tower-shaped keep (donjon) was built by driving logs close together on top of the mound, which served as the residence of the castle lord. Adjacent to one end of the inner bailey, an outer moat was dug around a larger area, a fence was driven around the perimeter, and houses for the family and retainers were built. …

From the castle tower

...A multi-story tower structure built in the center of a castle. It is compared to the keep and donjon towers of medieval European castles, but the Japanese castle tower has a strong political character, as its form was established when castles began to fulfill a political function as a symbol of the authority of the castle lord in addition to their military functions of defense and command. It became an essential element of early modern castles as political bases, but in reality there were castles without a castle tower, and cases where a castle tower was planned but only the castle tower base was built without a castle tower being built.

*Some of the terminology that mentions "keep (castle)" is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

Japanese:

…やや進んだ形式を備えるようになったのはノルマン人騎士たちの居城で，〈モット･アンド･ベーリーmotte and bailey〉システムと呼ばれる。モットは小丘のことで，円形の空堀を掘り，その土で中央に小山を築き，その頂上に丸太杭を密接させて打ち込んで円塔形の天守(キープkeep，ドンジョンdonjon)をつくり，それを城主の居館とした。こうした内郭の一端に隣接して，より広い敷地を囲んで外郭の堀を掘り，周辺に柵を打ち込んで，一族郎党の居住家屋を設けた。…

【天守】より

…城郭の中枢部に建てられた多層の櫓（やぐら）建築。ヨーロッパの中世の城のキープ，ドンジョンなどと呼ばれる塔とくらべられるが，日本の天守は，城が防戦と指揮という軍事機能に加えて，城主の権威の象徴という政治機能を発揮するようになってから形式が確立したので，政治的な性格が強い。政治の拠点としての近世城郭には不可欠の要素となったが，実際は天守のない城や，計画されたが天守台だけ築いて天守は建てられない場合もあった。…

※「キープ（城）」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について | 情報

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