Burnt Down House haikyo

Mike Grist Burned, Haikyo, Residential, Saitama 5 Comments

When I went on the wedding haikyo shoot a few weeks back we stumbled upon this burnt down house. Normally I`d bypass it in favor of the target- in this case we were looking for the Hume factory, but that turned out to be demolished. We had some time to kill, so after looking into the nearby Pachinko Hall we decided to check out the house. Dom and Liduina posed a bit in front, but the light was going and none of us were really in the mood to do a proper shoot, so we just poked around inside.

There wasn`t a great deal to see. Inside it stank of fire and ash. The car was still parked in front, almost undamaged but for a cracked windshield. Bits of stuff, including lots of hay, were lying around and inside.

Why hay? I have no idea. Was it the insulating material? Was it thrown in after the fact- but to what end?

I think this home burned down pretty recently to our visit. It seemed as if clean-up crews had not yet been in to at least collect what charred possessions remained. Judging from the strong smell of burning, I wondered if it burned down as recently as a week prior. I hoped that the family got out safely, that they had warning, but who knows. They didn`t take their car with them.

Japanese homes are largely made out of wood. Here you can see a slight concrete shell, but it`s hardly load-bearing.

It`s a wonder the whole thing didn`t collapse in on itself.

What looks like a toy chest, melted due to its proximity.

Why all the hay?

Combustible roofing tiles.

I wanted to go to the second floor, but there was no sign even of where the steps had been.

Floorboards seemingly burnt away.

Mangled kitchen utilities. Perhaps the oven.

Shelving, perhaps a tower pc.

Charred bones.

Grilled window bars seem to have been melted off.

Washing machine.

Bathtub, with bits of ceiling tile floating.

Plastered wooden walls probably melted/crumbled in the heat.

Again, I hope no-one died in the fire. I didn`t get any kind of bad vibe while looking around, but that doesn`t really mean anything.

See my full collection of Japanese ruins in the haikyo galleries:

[album id=4 template=compact]

Look in the other galleries for world ruins and fantasy ruins.

Comments 5

  1. This is a really striking set of photos, Mike. I feel like I can smell the char just looking at them.

    The place is a bit mysterious. The house appears to have stood some distance from other buildings in the area. The pungent smell suggests a recent fire, but some of the metal objects look rusted, suggesting they’ve been exposed for a while. Is the bathtub full of rain water (an old ruin), or water from fire hoses (recent)?

    Is the “hay” perhaps ruined tatami mats?

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    Tornadoes- It is quite recent, so I can see why you might not consider it haikyo. The direct meaning of the word though just means ruins, or so I think, so anything in ruins should qualify.

    David- Good points about potential aging. I had assumed the rust-look of the utensils was an effect of being burnt, but that might be incorrect. If so, then the place has lain in ruins for some considerable time. Likewise with the bathwater, didn’t occur to me.

    If then it’s an older ruin, it seems quite amazing that the place should still smell so freshly ashy. And also quite surprising that zero had been done to tidy it up. You’d think someone would have at least reclaimed the car- it seemed to be fine.

    Hay as mats, wouldn’t they have burned up? I don’t know.

  3. that looks mostly like surface rust that can appear really quickly. i used to do some welding occasionally back home and if i left whatever i welded outside over night it would have a very light rust on it in the morning because of the humidity.

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