Uguisu, Uguisu-jō and Uguisubari (Nightingale floors)

The Japanese Bush Warbler (鶯 Uguisu^?), Cettia diphone, is a passerine bird more often heard than seen. Its distinctive breeding call can be heard throughout much of Japan from the start of spring.

It is one of the favorite motifs of Japanese poetry, featured in many poems including those in Man'yōshū or Kokin Wakashū.  In poetry the bird is associated with the ume blossom, and appears with ume on hanafuda playing cards.

An uguisu-jō (jō = woman) is a female announcer at Japanese baseball games, or a woman employed to advertise products and sales with a microphone outside retail stores. These women are employed because of their beautiful 'warbling' voices. They are also employed to make public announcements for politicians in the lead-up to elections.

Some other Japanese names given to the bird are haru-dori ("spring bird"), haru-tsuge-dori ("spring-announcing bird") and hanami-dori ("spring-flower-viewing bird").
Its place in Japanese poetry has also given it the names uta-yomi-dori ("poem-reading bird") and kyo-yomi-dori ("sutra-reading bird"), the latter because its call is traditionally transcribed in Japanese as "Hō-hoke-kyo", the abbreviated Japanese title of the lotus sutra.

The bird is drab-coloured and secretive. It is normally only seen in spring before there is foliage in the trees. In winter the call is a low chirping. The Japanese Bush Warbler tends to remain deep in the shadow of foliage during the day.

Nightingale floors, or uguisubari (鴬張り)  listen (help·info), were floors designed to make a chirping sound when walked upon. These floors were used in the hallways of some temples and palaces, the most famous example being Nijo Castle, in Kyoto, Japan. Dry boards naturally creak under pressure, but these floors were designed so that the flooring nails rubbed against a jacket or clamp, causing chirping noises. The squeaking floors were used as a security device, assuring that none could sneak through the corridors undetected.
The "nightingale" the English name refers to is the Japanese Bush Warbler, uguisu.