- "Welcome to Hinata House!"
- —Hinata Residents
The Hinata-Sou (also known as Hinata House, the Hinata Dorms, the Hinata Apartments, or Hinata Inn) is the primary location where the Kuro Arashi: The Black Storm series occurs.
Located in the hot springs town of Hinata, the Hinata House was originally known as Hinata Inn; a hot springs lodge famous for its open-air onsen and its “Inn of Fateful Unions”, where any couple that stayed the night always ended up together, the Inn fell in popularity after a landslide caused the annex where the lodge’s magic occurred to be condemned and locked away.
Ownership of the Inn was passed down through the Urashima Family until Hina Urashima turned the Inn into an All-Girls Dormitory; renaming it Hinata House. The landlord ownership was then passed to Keitaro Urashima who maintained the dormitory. His sister, Kanoko Urashima, attempted to change it back into an Inn temporarily but ultimately failed and the Hinata House remained as a dormitory, becoming legendary for the seeming power to grant its residents the ability to pass the Tokyo University exam.
Layout[]
- The Hinata House is a multi-story Japanese style Inn built on a small hill next to a river/stream overlooking the town of Hinata. The Inn’s main building has a south and north wing, with the South wing containing the majority of the complex’s residential rooms and living facilities and is connected to the eastern annex and terrace as well as the kitchen and dining building. The North wing contains the popular outdoor bathing facilities and banquet room.
- The Hinata Café, a restaurant owned and run by Haruka Urashima, is linked to the Hinata complex; located at the base of hill, opposite the tram station.
- The complex's attic is sometimes used by the girls as a private conference room. With the only viable way in or out being through a manhole in the complex's roof on the inside.
- The entire complex is linked by an intricate tunnel system that stretches throughout the complex and into the mountain underneath, turning into an underground tunnel system.
- The House's estate follows a river on its eastern border, where a lakeside clearing overlooking a waterfall is located. This clearing is usually the location of the Hinata Potato Cooking Party and other mass-public gatherings.
Underground Tunnel System[]
Beneath Hinata Inn lies a tunnel complex that was supposedly built as a sanctuary from pirates. Throughout the years the tunnel system grew to accommodate various rooms as a basement level with various secret tunnel “ducts” acting as shortcuts throughout the above-ground complex.
Some of the more notable rooms within the system are Moe’s room and Kaolla Su’s vehicle hangar; within which vehicles such as the Mecha-Tama 00, the Mecha-Tama 04 and Noriyasu Seta's van are stored.
Tenant Rooms[]
- (204) Landlord’s Room
The manager of the Hinata House lives in this room. First it belonged to Hina Urashima but was then emptied after she left on her world-wide vacation. Keitaro Urashima later took up residency here and, temporarily, Kanako Urashima during Keitaro’s trip to America.
- (201) Shinobu’s Room
The room of Shinobu Maehara possesses a western style bed and contains a large collection of plush animal toys.
- (205) Mitsune’s Room
Mitsune Konno’s room also possesses a western style bed but is far more cluttered; filled with magazines and a considerable collection of empty alcohol bottles.
- (304) Naru’s Room
The room of Naru Narusegawa is located directly above the Landlord’s room. A hole has been cut between the rooms to allow access between the two where Naru used to use to visit Hina Urashima before Keitaro arrived.
- (302) Seno and Motoko’s Room
Seno Nakakami and Motoko Nakakami’s room is styled as a traditional Japanese room. As a martial artist Motoko keeps various weapons in her room as well as a suit of samurai armor. Seno's weapons and belongings can be found here, given their marriage. Motokos's wardrobe can be used to directly access Kaolla’s room.
- (301) Kaolla’s Room
The room that belongs to Kaolla Su has been converted completely into a miniature jungle; complete with trees, foliage and a small lake that leads (somehow) to the outdoor hotsprings. Steam from the boiler room leaks over into Kaolla's room.
Trivia[]
- The lodge’s address is 1 Hinata Street, Hinata City, Kanagawa Prefecture.
- The Hinata House Hot Springs are open 10:00am – 4:00pm, costing 400 Yen for Adults.
- The complex’s Boiler Room also possesses an underground hot spring that is connected to the one above ground.
- Despite the Inn being turned into a dormitory, Hina sometimes allows some of the old regular customers to still stay in the apartments for lodging.
- The divider in Motoko's room reads "Shiki soku ze kuu (Form is empty)". These are words from the Heart Sutra of Buddhism. It pretains that everything in this world only exists due to cause and effect and does not have substance on its own, therefore it is essentially empty.
- The banner above Motoko's door reads "Sokuten kyoshi (Abandon self and follow heaven)". This slogan was an ideal created by Japanese writer Soseki Natsume and alludes to the practice of abandoning self interests and entrust one's fate in what the universe brings.
Appearances[]
- Interludes: Steel and Heart
- Kuro Arashi: The Black Storm (First appearance)
- Kuro Arashi: The Prequel Story
- PokéFiends (Non-canonical)
- Wish Upon a Snowflake - A Kuro Arashi Special