Accomplished Cybersecurity Professional | CISSP | Expert in Security Frameworks, Risk Management, and Cloud Security
Masugata Mon — The Unbreachable Gate (A great example of physical defence whose concepts can be applied to IT Security concepts to build similar structures - with less loss of life. Posted by my friend Reg Sakamoto on FB. Proper fortification strategy is applicable to modern digital problems, although the materials differ). One interesting form of castle defense was the Masugata Mon, a strategically placed gate that was virtually impossible to breach. This type of gate got its name from the square wooden rice measure and sake cup called a Masu. The square shape of the gate design, with high walls surrounding the four sides of a central courtyard is possibly best described and remembered by calling it a “Death Box”. Basically, should the enemy manage to break through the first gate, usually a smaller, but strong Korai Mon type gate, they enter a courtyard, with another, larger Yagura Mon gate (one with a fortified building running across the top) at right angles to the one they just entered. The courtyard is flanked by walls of ishigaki, dry stone walls, and topped with Tamon Yagura, being long, corridor-like defensive structures running around the top, and connected to the Yagura Mon built above and across the top of the gate. The enemy now finds themselves surrounded, with arrow and musket fire raining down from all angles. They cannot proceed without having to somehow get through the second, larger, stronger gate, a most difficult operation even without the continuous defensive fire. Battering rams were never recorded as having been used in samurai warfare, despite their use in movies and TV shows. Besides, any samurai carrying a battering ram would be the first targets for defenders. Likewise, cannon were rarely used until the siege of Osaka, quite late in samurai warfare because of the weight, and as the Japanese didn’t use the wheel as such, found them difficult to transport and maneuver. The Masugata Mon was the preferred gate of castle designer Todo Takatora who designed or influenced over 30 late 1500’s early 1600’s castles across Japan.
