Higanbana – red spider lily

Autumn is approaching after very hot summer. You see the flower along a footpath telling us the coming of autumn. The name of the flower is Higanbana. English name is red spider lily. Higanbana is a symbol of Vernal Equinox. Japanese people regard this period as Higan  because the sun rises right in the east (where Japanese people believe they live) and sets right in the west or Higan (where their ancestors live). They believe  Vernal Equinox Day is the most accessible day to their ancestors in Higan.  The flower appears from the ground several days before Vernal Equinox Day (23rd of September) and disappears after several days after Equinox Day. That’s why this flower is called Higanbana. Higanbana along a lane through rice fields filled with yellow-gold grown rice presents a typical landscape of Satoyama (the country side) of Japan.

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Higanbana along the rice fields
Higanbana in Kinokawa, Wakayama

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