Comments on: Kyoto’s Haunted Hua Huan Museum

By: Grandma Friedl

Grandma Friedl — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 16:03:13 +0000

Thanks, Jeff, for allowing Peter to post here. I believe a lot of folks will find his various comments as interesting as I. And thanks to Peter to your response. I always sort of wondered about that. And thanks to Paul for clearing up the persimmon tree. I couldn’t be sure what it was, nor did I realize persimmons grew in Japan.

By: Peter

Peter — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 15:08:26 +0000

Grandma Friedl: I was beginning to feel embarrassed at going off at a tangent… but your question is interesting, and takes me even further off – sorry, Jeffrey!

I’m not so sure that I’d agree that few grand homes in the British Isles have associated gardens. A look at the websites of the National Trust or the National Trust for Scotland would show many fine houses with equally fine gardens – both kitchen and ornamental gardens.

Castles, though are a different matter – usually. I suppose one has to distinguish between ‘real’ castles, built for defence (or subjugation of the natives, as in Wales!), and what might be called ‘show castles’ which are just grand homes given a castley look for appearance’s sake – like Sissinghurst Castle in Kent.

I’m sure that ornamental gardens were the last thing on the builders’ minds with the first type, the real castles. As you suggest, any plantation could well conceal an enemy. A few such castles do now have gardens, but these are much more recent developments, as at Leeds Castle in Kent, Cawdor Castle in Scotland, and no doubt some others.

Happy New Year to all the Friedls!

By: Avery

Avery — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 20:00:13 +0000

Sumimasen, kokoni doorimasenka…

Hi, I came from AnimeSuki. I am here to recommend you a good website about Kyoto: http://www.deepkyoto.com/

Make sure to go to Cafe Proverbs especially, it makes me hungry just thinking about it.

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 17:32:43 +0000

Very interesting. I suspect/fear that our Mom will see a “fixer upper” here rather than a “tear downer”. I can hear her shouting something about “PO-tential!”

Hah, you were writing your comments at the same time; her’s came in the minute before yours. —Jeffy

By: Grandma Friedl

Grandma Friedl — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 17:31:37 +0000

Fascinating post. I’m amazed that at last I’ve seen a place where I can see absolutely no “potential”. None. Maybe there were few building codes in place when this was built…er, cobbled together, though with all the earthquakes, it must be sturdier than it looks. Or the vines are holding it together well.Could this be considered “going green”?
Peter, thanks for the follow-up on your notes. I wonder..can you explain why so few castles and grand homes in England and Scotland seem to have absolutely no landscaping, or vegetation of any kind, around them.? At least the many photos I’ve seen show nothing close by the structure/ Perhaps there are plantings further beyond the buildings. Would the lack pf plantings be for protection from sneak attacks or just the prevailing style? I’ve always wondered.

By: PaulC

PaulC — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 15:09:18 +0000

Fascinating. I guess someone left a persimmon somewhere and it sprouted. Renewal amidst decay.

By: Peter

Peter — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 14:51:02 +0000

Well, writing that prompted me to Google it, and I was delighted to find that the new Laird took it back into his care in 1978, so all can be revealed: http://www.rothiemurchus.net/Pages/About%20Us/History/Doune.html. Totally irrelevant to your story, but having started, I had to finish!

By: Peter

Peter — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 14:46:31 +0000

Fascinating series.

It puts me in mind of a very different, but similarly abandoned, house I came across in the Scottish Highlands – I won’t name it, since the family still lives on elsewhere! It had been the family home for a couple of centuries, and was described at length in a book, yet had been abandoned by its owner after World War II (during which, I was told, it had been occupied by Canadian troops). When I visited, about 1971, it contained much rather good-looking furniture, a Steinway grand piano, many books… yet the windows were out, the floors rotten and collapsed. So sad to behold. At least that place lives on in a sense, in the book I mentioned.

Creepy, but intriguing.

By: Marcina

Marcina — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 13:59:11 +0000

Wow. Where you able to get safely close to any windows? Since there were still shoes in the closet, I wonder if there are any furnishings in that house?

I couldn’t see inside except for at the top floor, from a distance, and things seemed pretty stripped away down to the studs. Maybe the walls up there never had drywall or the like… dunno. —Jeffy