The twelve gates of Miyagi

Japanese: 宮城十二門 - きゅうじょうじゅうにもん

A gate that opens into the palace wall that surrounded the outermost wall of ancient Japanese palaces. In the Taiho Code, it was called the Outer Gate. As there are a total of 12 gates, three on each of the four sides, it is commonly known as the Twelve Gates of the Palace. However, the palace gates of Heian Palace also include the Upper East Gate and the Upper West Gate on the east and west sides. When the Heian Palaces were first built, including Fujiwara Palace, Heijo Palace, and Nagaoka Palace, the gate names were given to the clans whose duties had been guarding the gates since ancient times, but in 818 (Kōnin 9), the names were changed to Chinese names based on the sounds of the clan names. The layout of the gates at Heian Palace is as shown in the table, and the only difference at Nagaoka Palace is that the three gates on the east side are, from north to south, Agata Inukai Gate, Sanmon Gate, and Tatebekan Gate.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

日本古代の宮城の最外郭を囲む宮城垣に開く門。大宝令では外門という。4面各3門ずつの計12門あるので，宮城十二門と通称する。ただし平安宮での宮城門は東･西面に上東門，上西門も加えられる。藤原宮，平城宮，長岡宮と平安宮の創建当初には，古くから門の守衛を職務とした氏族の名を門号としていたが，818年(弘仁9)氏族名の門号の音を基にして中国的な名称に改めた。各門の配置は平安宮は表のとおりで，長岡宮は東面3門が北から県犬養（あがたいぬかい）門，山門，建部門となる点だけが異なる。

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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