also: じょうかのめい
capitulation; surrender; treaty signed under coercion
Idiomatic expression referring to a humiliating surrender or treaty forced upon a defeated party, originally from the image of signing a treaty beneath the walls of a besieged castle.
Surrounded by the enemy army, they were finally forced to sign a humiliating surrender treaty.
この不平等条約はまさに城下の盟だ。
This unequal treaty is nothing less than a capitulation under duress.
Standard kanji spelling; the reading じょうかのちかい is the most common.
Alternate reading using めい for 盟; less common but attested.
Variant spelling with okurigana; rare and possibly archaic.
From classical Chinese 城下之盟, a covenant imposed beneath a city’s walls upon a defeated or besieged state, hence a humiliating treaty or capitulation.