Bongo1020 t1_iu3lzam wrote on October 28, 2022 at 8:59 AM

I think this is false, an urban legend and is maybe a simply a consequence of the aging construction. From what I recall when I visited Nijo in Kyoto they outright state that it may simply be caused by how the floors are secured with nail over decades/centuries naills would gouge out the wood slightly. The result was that when you walk on the floorboards the plank shifts, scraping the nail and causing the characteristic screech.

KeegoTheWise t1_iu4n2wy wrote on October 28, 2022 at 2:54 PM

Yup, IIRC it was a mix of that and the type of nails used. The anti-ninja thing was a nice bonus but it’s not like they built the floors specifically for that

bobdole3-2 t1_iu7h506 wrote on October 29, 2022 at 3:27 AM

Even if the floors were built that way on purpose, I sort of doubt that it was to stop ninja. The modern idea of a guy dressed in black sneaking into a castle in the dead of night to assassinate someone is a comparatively new idea. It's basically the Japanese version of James Bond, it's not what ninja actually did.