chashi　チャシ

KEY WORD :　architecture / castles

Fort. An Ainu アイヌ term for a fortification surrounded by a stockade fence or palisade *saku 柵. Many had earthen embankments *doi 土居 and dry moats *karabori 空堀. Chashi were built in strategic positions yougaichi 要害地, on mountain tops, and close to lakes, rivers, the sea, and on islands. Remains of chashi have been found in approximately 1000 sites in Hokkaidou 北海道 as well as several dozen sites in Touhoku 東北 and Sakhalin. Many are irregularly shaped, following the lie of the land, but some are square, round, or a combination of these shapes. Square chashi are most common in northern and eastern Hokkaidou, and round ones in western and southern Hokkadou. Some chashi consist of a single fort, but many combine two or three structures, and chashi with as many as 7 or 8 forts have been found. Chashi excavated so far have dry moats between 2m and 8m wide, with embankments a few metres high on the inner bank of the moat. The inner measurements (inside the moat) vary from 14m by 40m, to 50m by 110m. Examples include Koshiyamain コシヤマイン in Hakodate 函館 City, Setana 瀬棚 in S.W. Hokkaidou and Ookawa 大川 in Yoichi 余市, near Sapporo 札幌. The term chashi survives in Hokkaidou place names, written 茶志, where the Japanese characters are used phonetically. Some scholars have also proposed that the origin of the term is not the Ainu language but the Korean "cas" meaning fortress.

REFERENCES:

*toride 砦, *tate 館, *jousaku 城柵

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