The Nightingale Floors of Nijō Castle
Walk the corridors of a shogun's palace in Kyoto, and the wooden floor chirps under your feet like birds.
What was reported
In the Ninomaru Palace at Nijō Castle, built for the Tokugawa shoguns in Kyoto, the wooden corridors sing as people walk on them, making a high chirping sound like birds. They are known as 'nightingale floors'.
It is often said they were designed as an alarm, so that no assassin or spy could creep through the palace in silence.
Explanations offered
The chirping comes from metal clamps and nails under the floorboards, which rub against each other when weight presses the boards down. Whether the effect was designed as a security measure or was a lucky side effect of the construction is debated by historians.
- When
- Built in the early 1600s
- Where
- Nijō Castle, Kyoto, Japan
- Witnesses
- Visitors every day
- Status
- Explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.