Nov 29, 2010: Royal House Haikyo

[xoxoxoBruce]

You've probably seen websites showing what urban explorers find in their abandoned building adventures.
Japan has these adventurers also, and they call their targets haikyo, although I don't know if that only applies to former homes, or all abandoned buildings.
This one is called The Royal House Haikyo, but not because any royalty lived there... not in person anyway.
The house is remarkably complete, with expensive furniture, fine art, personal effects, and normal household crap.

It’s not clear who did live at this Western-style house. Its distinctive green, orange and white exterior, use of stone and attractive balcony area are very different from the typical Japanese-style house.

Most unusual is this photograph of the royal family, complete with chrysanthemum seal.

In pre-WWII Japan, the Emperor was still revered as a living deity and to look upon him was thought of as an immense privilege. Distribution of the Imperial Family Portraits was not compulsory and schools had to petition to the Ministry in order to receive one, which was usually granted on grounds of academic excellence. Because the official portraits were on loan from the Imperial Household Ministry, protecting the picture from harm was deemed of utmost importance. Having the picture lost or damaged, even from natural disasters like fires or earthquakes, was seen as such a serious failure of duty that there were incidents of school officials committing suicide in an act of repentance.
It was also said that looking at the Emperor directly in the eyes would result in punishment of blindness, so students were told not to stare at the picture and it was kept behind curtains except on occasions where the school would open them to pay respects to the Imperial Family.

Distribution of the portraits began in 1874 and by 1920 shrines known as 奉安殿 (ほうあんでん) were built in many places to better preserve the portraits and prevent people dying in attempts to protect them from damage.

After Japan’s defeat, the Imperial Family Portraits were withdrawn in order to be replaced with a new version. But a new portrait was never re-issued to schools.

In my opinion then, this could mean one of two things. Either this Imperial Family Portrait was taken from a school and brought here for safety, or the portrait was issued to this family directly. All of this before the Imperial Family Portraits were withdrawn in 1946. Judging by the nature of the house, the abundance of expensive-looking items (3 televisions!), a huge collection of photographs of Imperial Family members and the following curious black box containing scrolls and bearing the Imperial mark, I would say there is a good possibility that this place was indeed special and worthy of the nickname ‘Royal House’.

This guy was also in a moral quandary;
Should he keep it a complete secret?
Just not reveal the location so it won't be robbed and vandalized?
Report it to authorities/museums so the historical stuff can be preserved?
The forest will reclaim the entire house in a couple years, so what would you do?

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