英語の後に日本語が続きます。
Spider lilies are native to China but can be found across Japan. They flower in September and therefore are called "Autumnal equinox flower" in Japanese. Spider lilies are known generally as red flowers (Lycoris radiata) but they produce white (Lycoris albiflora) and yellow (Lycoris traubii) flowers. A white spider lily is not a sibling of a red one, but a cross-breed of a red and a yellow spider lilies. It's interesting that a child of red and yellow flowers is white.
A yellow spider lily is called "Shouki zuisen" in Japanese, translating to "Zhong Kui lily" as its petals look like the beard of Zhong Kui, a demon hunter and Chinese deity who fights ghosts.
Despite their beauty, red spider lilies are associated with death in Japan for an unfair but understandable reason. Although cremation is the most popular now, burial used to be common in Japan and therefore red spider lilies were planted to keep moles and other animals away from bodies because the plant's bulbs are poisonous. Spider lilies are called "higan bana," meaning "flowers during the higan period." "Higan" is a Buddhist holiday, i.e., three days before and after both the Spring equinox and Autumnal equinox.
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| 2025/9/26 |
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| 2025/9/26 |
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| 2025/9/26 |
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2025/9/26
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彼岸花（曼珠沙華）です。中国原産ですが今は日本全国で見られます。赤い花で知られていますが実は白と黄色もあります。白は白花曼珠沙華で分かりやすいのですが、黄色は
鐘馗水仙と呼ばれます。鐘馗水仙の名の由来は花びらが鐘馗（道教の神様）の髭に似ているから。赤と白は曼珠沙華（彼岸花）なのに黄色だけ鐘馗水仙というのは分かりにくいです。
不吉なイメージがありますが何の根拠もなく、日本で昔まだ土葬が一般的だった時代にモグラなどから遺体を守るために、毒性を持つ彼岸花を墓の周りに植え始めたのが理由のようです。ちなみに「お彼岸」とは春分と秋分の前後3日間を合わせた計7日間のことを言います。秋だけじゃないのね。知りませんでした。
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