Nightingale floors

If Caroline wrote this post she would describe the moat around Nijo-jo castle in Kyoto. Or, the beautiful paintings in the castles many rooms. Perhaps the exquisite carvings. And she would post pictures like this:


Or this:


I have no pictures of the nightingale floors. I just have the memories ... I have actually walked on such floors and they work. It's so cool. For those in the audience not familiar with nightingale floors, let me describe them. Old Japan was a dangerous place. Ninjas and plotting sublords were everywhere. So lords built special floors in their castles to avoid enemies sneaking up on them. Nightingale floors are wooden floors built to squeak and sound like the nightingale when someone walks on them. That way the lords could always hear when anyone approached.