03/03/2010

Singing sighs

A trip to Nijo castle, the Shogun’s residence in Kyoto.

One way I considered trying to get in.

The proper entrance

A nice little plan of the castle

Obviously someone didn’t read the sign….

The palace complex

Unfortunately no cameras inside! So you will just have to imagine from descriptions. First thing as you enter, shoes off! No damaging the floor boards. So you enter into the the first part of the complex. This contains staggered waiting rooms for receiving people of different ranks, all tastefully decorated of course.

Then you move on to the different audience chambers. Note that the walls can easily be moved for the body guards to pour in.

Finally you get to the living quarters.

So ok, the place seemed nice, but not that special. Until you noticed that everywhere you stepped the floor sang! For the ultimate in paranoid people, introducing the nightingale floor designed to show up even the sneakiest ninja.

Must have been hard to sleep at night though…