Saeki House

The Saeki House is a common, unassuming, two-story fictional Japanese house located in Tokyo, and a main setting of both Ju-on and The Grudge franchises. In Ju-on, the house first appeared in Ju-on: The Curse and is last seen in Ju-on: The Beginning of the End, after being absent from White Ghost and Black Ghost.

In The Grudge franchise, the house first appeared in The Grudge, and was last seen briefly in The Grudge 3 through flashbacks. The house is briefly seen in The Grudge (2020) in the opening scene with Fiona Landers.

History[]

Japanese Timeline[]

JUON CURSE 1 — Kobayashi visiting the house in *Ju-on: The Curse*, with its occult resident above.

The house in the original is located at the Nerima district in Tokyo, Japan, and was home for a seemingly normal family, the Saeki’s, who consisted of Takeo Saeki, his wife Kayako Saeki and their only child Toshio Saeki, who owned the family cat Mar

At some point, the family's harmony was destroyed after Takeo found out Kayako's secret feelings towards another man, their son's teacher Shunsuke Kobayashi. Obsessed with the thought of his wife cheating on him and that his son might not really be his, Takeo murdered Kayako and Mar the cat, before killing Kobayashi's pregnant wife Manami Kobayashi. With his murders Takeo unintentionally created a grudge curse that, according to the myth, takes over a place (their house in this case) following a moment of intense anger. The curse made Kayako come back as an Onriyo and kill Toshio, Takeo and Shunsuke.

After the murders, this house was first bought by the Murakami family, all of them being taken, possessed or killed by the curse afterwards. The following residents were the Kitada family, with Yoshimi Kitada the wife being possessed by Kayako's spirit, killing her husband Hiroshi Kitada and a real state agent, Tatsuya Suzuki. The curse proves itself able to affect people not necessarily stepping inside the house, so Tasuya's family, the Suzukis, also

Rika-house — Rika's first sight of the house in *Ju-on: The Grudge*.

succumb to it through interacting with other cursed individuals, inferring that the curse can spread like a virus.

At some point after, Yuji Toyama had attempted to burn the house down after he had investigated the prior deaths in the house and his colleagues were claimed by the curse, but fails when he is attacked by the ghosts and escapes the house, inadvertently getting Detective Nakagawa and Detective Igarashi killed when they followed him to the house. He later dies off-screen.

Sometime later, the house is purchased by the Tokunaga family. Kazumi Tokunaga is the first victim, being haunted by the ghosts and left in a catatonic state in her bed. Katsuya Tokunaga tends to her but is attacked by Toshio’s ghost. He is then possessed by Takeo’s ghost and then kills Kazumi, recreating his murder of Kayako. He is then visited by his sister Hitomi Tokunaga, and in the middle of mumbling about a woman having an affair, kicks her out. Hitomi is then claimed by the curse in her apartment.

Sachie Tokunaga is the only surviving member of the family, who is left speechless and dependent. She is then put under the care of Rika Nishina, a live-in Nurse. As she’s putting her to bed, Sachie is finally claimed by Kayako’s ghost, leaving Rika shocked. Rika would be haunted by the curse afterwards, seeing Kayako and Toshio at the foot of her bed, Kayako’s hand popping out of her head in the shower, and having nightmares about Mar. She is forced to return to the house when her friend Mariko visits it. Finding her murdered by Kayako, she is cornered and eventually killed by Takeo’s ghost, who recreates his murder with her.

A while later, the house is visited by four schoolgirls named Izumi Toyama, Saori, Chiaki and Ayano. Izumi is the sole survivor after the girls are attacked and killed off-screen. The ordeal left Izumi catatonic and traumatized, until she was eventually claimed by Kayako.

A TV crew entered the house to shoot an episode of a popular TV variety show called Heart-Stopping Backgrounds, which featured an actress Kyoko Harase, who was pregnant by the time she went in. Kayako's spirit (and perhaps Toshio's as well) found its chance to live again through Kyoko's pregnancy, killing her unborn child and assuming his place. All of the crew members succumbed to the curse, and later Kyoko's husband Massashi, untill Kayako was reborn from Kyoko.

It is unclear if Kayako's rebirth ended the grudge curse.

Ju-on video game[]

At some point, the house was bought by Yamada family. After buying the house, the whole family was cursed and later killed by Kayako and Toshio.

American timeline[]

Grudge2GraphicNovel9 — The house on fire.

The house is located at the Suginami special ward in Tokyo. After the Saeki murders, with the father hanging himself in Toshio's bedroom, Peter Kirk, the pivot of Kayako's murder, visited the house following her letters but is not seen being haunted or disturbed by the curse in any way; he, however, commits suicide the morning after.

A group of detectives entered the house to investigate the Saeki murders and were taken one by one. The first family to own the house was the Williams family, an American family living in Japan. The whole family ended up being killed by the curse, as well as their first caretaker hired, and the previous caretaker Fiona Landers, who unintentionally took the curse back with her to Pennsylvania.

Detective Nakagawa sent to investigate their deaths succumbed while entering the house in order to burn it down. The caretaker's substitute, Karen then took it upon herself to set the house on fire attempting to break the curse, but fails, as she is taken as well. The curse grew stronger from the fire, and the flared house remained and was visited by Aubrey Davis, Karen’s younger sister, and a journalist named Eason (Though Aubrey was actually dragged inside), who believed the fire had somehow worsened the curse. Three schoolgirls also stepped into the place, 2 years after Aubrey’s encounters with the house. Allison Fleming is brought to the house as part of a mean prank by Vanessa Cassidy and Miyuki Nazawa, which goes horribly wrong when they actually see the ghosts on the premises. Allison survives long enough to unintentionally bring the curse to her home in Chicago, Illinois, affecting the whole place and its resident families, thus setting up the events of The Grudge 3.

Owners[]

Japanese timeline[]

Saeki family (Original owners)
Murakami family (Ju-on: The Curse)
Kitada family (Ju-on: The Curse & Ju-on: The Curse 2)
Tokunaga family (Ju-on: The Grudge)

Ju-on video game franchise[]

Saeki family (Original owners)
Yamada family (Ju-on: The Grudge)

The Grudge franchise[]

Saeki family (Original owners)
Williams family (The Grudge).

Trivia[]

Ju-on-house-location — The house used for the *Ju:on* film series and the game intro, as of 2012.

While the house setting is a real location used for the Ju-on film series, the sets were built in a sound stage for The Grudge franchise. The American shooting sets also make the house look bigger, slightly roomier and more isolated from other houses nearby.
Saeki's House address is 15-15, Higashicho, Tokorozawa, Saitama 359-1116, Japan.
Karen's research confirms that the Saeki house is located in Suginami in The Grudge. This ward is 2 miles away (4 miles if driving) from the Nerima ward, where the Ju-on house is located.^[1]
Even though the house was not real, the cast and crew were required to step inside in bare feet while shooting The Grudge, respectfully.
A replica of the Grudge house was featured in the Grudge-themed Haunt Maze at Knotts Berry Farm. The attraction was inaugurated at The Grudge 2 premiere.
The road that leads to the fictional house is outside Minami Shinjuku station in Shibuya ward, Tokyo.
The Ju-on: The Grudge intro was also shot at the actual house used for the Ju-on films.
Throughout the Ju-on film series, the house often awakens some estrangement from random passersby, but never on its current owners until they are in. Apart of Karen's suspiciousness, this is never seen in The Grudge.
According to an interview, the same house used for the Ju-on franchise was also used by the VisualKei band Kuroyuri To Kage as the set for the PV for their song "Yokusou." ^[2]
As of 2019, the house has been demolished. [1]