Ninjamura

The approach, through the thick woods.

Until 8 or some years ago, Ninjamura was a small local attraction situated atop a forested hill in Fukuoka. As children, some of Ken's friends used to visit the place, and recall a time when they went to the "Ninja House" for a thrill and got spooked by men dressed as ninjas, popping out of walls and trap doors. However, as the years passed, Ninjamura saw a decrease in profits, presumably, and shut its doors to the public. The site of the ninja-themed haunted house was never re-bought, and no one bothered to demolish it. Tonight, Ken and I and some local friends Tatsumi and Kento, have stepped through the gates to Ninjamura once more, for the sake of adventure and nostalgia both.

Notice the pile behind me.

Walking through the forest to reach the first abandoned house, I quickly realize how fast nature had retaken Ninjamura. The wooden bridges crossing through the crevasses and pits in the forested floor have long begun to rot, providing poor footing as we struggle to walk while holding onto our cheap LED flashlights.

 But as we are brought deeper into the forest, we begin to notice the ill-hidden mannequins littering the place. It isn't long before we start finding discarded limbs left and right. Some even hang above our head, pinned to trees for reasons we don't know. Soon, we even came upon a pile of the mannequins, many of them appearing to have blood painted on to them. Not too far up ahead, is our first actual stop - the abandoned haunted house itself. Does that make it twice haunted?

The maze beneath the house.

Of course, the place being long deserted, we found the elements that figure in every Haikyo, (abandoned places, as they call them in Japan,) these being graffiti, litter, and wreckage scattered around the ground.

 But soon, too, did we quickly discover (or in the case of my companions, rediscover) the intricacies of the place, once suited for scaring the shit out of children. Rooms that appear to be small, empty closets reveal themselves to be equipped with hidden doors - those famous, stereotypical reversing walls that flip around to reveal a way into a different room. My companions knew of several of these already, but each discovery brought to me a gleeful satisfaction as I kicked at walls that turned out to be doors.

 These aside, we also found a ladder with access to the attic, as well as an intentionally labyrinthine passageway beneath the house itself, forcing us to hunch over to find a way leading to the next room. We stuck around long enough to get a good look at all of the rooms, many as they were, before we headed back out and towards the next curiosity.

It was only on our way out of Ninjamura that we stumbled upon what once was an illusion-themed house with an inclined floor. The considerable angle of the ground, near 30 or so degrees, gave the impression that someone standing straight was slanted at a seemingly gravity-defying angle. Of course, this place being similarly abandoned, we allowed ourselves to experiment hanging from beams and jumping around as well.

And thus ended our brief visit of Ninjamura! Man, I've been doing quite a bit of Haikyo lately, huh.