[Episode 12: The Quiet Corpse] Playing the Charlie Charlie Game at a Ruin Where a Suicide Once Took Place. Shonyu-en. [Trailer]

This is the trailer for Episode 12, “Quiet Corpse.” It covers the abandoned inn Shōnyūen, which stands along the Nippara Highway in Okutama, Nishitama District, Tokyo.

Shōnyūen is named after the nearby Nippara Limestone Cave and appears to have been used as lodging for tourists. We could not confirm public records of exactly how it closed. Information that a person died inside the building seems to have been what first made it talked about as a haunted spot.

The trailer introduces the segment planned in this ruin. The main episode has two parts. A report says heavy machinery partially demolished it in 2023, so its present appearance may differ from photos online.

What to Watch For

Before the trailer, note the character of the land where this inn stood. The Nippara Highway runs about 10.8 kilometers upstream along the Nippara River from near Okutama Station to the front of Nippara Limestone Cave. The cave is about 1,270 meters long with a 134-meter height difference, designated a Tokyo Natural Monument, and once flourished as a site of mountain worship. The inn stood on a valley road where faith and tourism overlap.

Our Take

In our view, what the rumors about Shōnyūen show is less the existence of ghosts than the problem of “the meaning a place is made to carry.” When one painful event happens, the place is called by that event’s name forever after. An inn built to welcome tourists, named after the limestone cave, is remembered through another story unrelated to its original purpose. This is speculation, but a ruin’s rumor may be a kind of “second name” the building has been given. We refrain from writing details of the circumstances or methods of the person who died. If you are struggling, please do not carry it alone. In Japan, the Yorisoi Hotline (0120-279-338, free, 24 hours) offers support.