Last Updated: Sep 8, 2024

Kinchakuda Manjushage Park

Saitama’s Sea of Spider Lilies

This story was originally published on donnykimball.com and has been syndicated here on Medium.

For the past month or so, my entire feed on Instagram has been overtaken by red spider lilies. Known in Japanese as manjushage or higanbana (the term that I’ll opt to use from here on out), these flowers are synonymous with the arrival of fall in Japan. Generally, they are at their best around the autumn equinox. Though short lived, the higanbana are a great prelude to the coming of the fall foliage later on in mid-autumn. Should you find yourself in Japan during the latter half of September, I highly suggest you add a locale to your itinerary that features these beautiful flowers.

As stunning as the higanbana are, they are deeply wrought with tragedy. You see, this sad flower has long been associated with death in many Asian cultures. Likely a result of their highly poisonous nature, the higanbana has regularly been used in Buddhist lore as a metaphor for death. Additionally, these haunting but alluring red flowers are also known to pop up in and around cemeteries, thereby further cementing their link with death. Despite this dark shadow though, the higanbana is still nonetheless enchanting.

Perhaps my favorite tale linked with the higanbana comes from the all important Lotus Sutra. In this Buddhist text, the flowers are…