Yanari (家鳴, 家鳴り, 鳴家, or 鳴屋, literally "house creak") is a paranormal phenomenon told about in legends in various places in Japan where the house or furniture would start shaking for no reason. In the Gazu Hyakki Yagyō by Toriyama Sekien, there is a depiction of a small oni-like yōkai doing a prank shaking the house causing a yanari, but in modern times they are interpreted to be the same as poltergeist phenomena. Also, squeaking sounds made by a house's materials that happen as a result of changes in temperature and humidity are also nowadays called "yanari." They often occur in newly built houses where the materials have not yet been there for long, and in worse cases it can result in defective housing causing trouble for the construction company and homeowner. Legends In the Taihei Hyakumonogatari, Edo Period In the Edo period, Tajima Province (now, northern Hyōgo Prefecture). A certain group rōnin went on a test of courage and visited a house known to be haunted. While staying up the whole night, the entire house started violently shaking. The rōnin thought it was an earthquake and left the house, but the only thing shaking was the house. This strange phenomenon occurred the next day too, so the group of rōnin went to consult a monk named Tomohisa, and they all went to go stay at that house together. The night Tomohisa stayed there with all those rōnin, the house started shaking. Tomohisa stared at the tatami and stabbed at the most violently shaking area with a dagger. After doing so, the shaking stopped completely. When it becomes morning and they investigated the house, they found a tomb engraved "Nataguma Seigan Reii" (刃熊青眼霊位, "Blade-Bear Blue-eye Spirit's Spot"), and from the 眼 character the dagger was stabbed into, blood had come out. When the story was related to the locals, they were told about how in the past, there was a bear that wildly ran around the area and the man living in that house killed it, and the tomb was built in order to quell its curse, but he was still haunted by the bear's spirit and died, and ever after that the spirit had wandered around the house causing many strange paranormal phenomena. Occurrence mentioned in a November 22 article in Meiji 34 or 1901 in the daily newspaper Niroku Shinbō It was Meiji 33 or 1900, January. In