An Omen of Death?
Guaranteed to give any anime fan a cold shiver, the Japanese Spider lily has etched itself into fans’ minds from many franchises. Many a fan can recall a character or scene, which included these beauties and it usually leads to something very traumatic. Within the anime world this flower has become an omen of death, something bad is usually around the corner in the very next scene. But is this a fair association?
The Lycoris radiata, or Red spider lily, is native to Japan and can be seen along fields and in rural open spaces. I think this flower is very beautiful and upon moving here learned that it also comes in white! The first warning I must give is this flower is very toxic. Please wash your hands when touching this flower, it can cause sickness and in some very rare cases death. So a great promising start?
Within Japanese culture, these flowers are a powerful symbol they represent the fleeting nature of life. They are also found often around graveyards which also helps strengthen its image. These flowers are loved as they serve as good rodent repellent and repel even deer. perhaps they have seen one too many animes?
This flower mainly blooms around autumn, which is strange as autumn has yet to grace me with its presence and temperatures are still hitting the 30s. But I have seen a lot of these beauties on my adventures now. Within the flower world late blooming flowers are uncommon, so this flower stands out. Around this time of the year, people often return home and think of loved ones. So the connection between this flower and the time of the year explains the linking of darker months with its appearance.
Upon research, I noted that this flower in particular has a very odd bloom cycle, where most flowers will bloom once the leaves are out. This flower blooms first and the leaves follow once the flower itself has died. So the flower gets two displays and eventually dies. It seems the Chinese were so impressed they wrote a myth about the sun Goddess Amaterasu who assigned two fairies to protect the flower yet they could never meet. However, they fell in love and they were cursed to never meet again. Hence the leaves bloom once the flower has died.
Such a poetic sad story can easily provide grounds for the flood of anime trauma that followed. Sometimes they are called the ghost flower as they sway in the breeze around the graves of loved ones and they remind people of ghosts.
They are also a symbol of hope depending on how you view the topic of the afterlife. They connect us to another plane of existence. they remind us life is short and we should cherish those around us. As someone who recently lost a friend, nothing weighs on my mind more than making sure I make every second count. I never know when the clock will strike again, so these flowers act as a reminder. Life is short and very precious, we shouldn’t wait till tomorrow to say what can be said today. Tell that person how you feel! Go see that person you miss or just get out there and make some memories.
I believe that the Japanese spider lily’s often traumatic reputation is not quite on the mark. I believe like the show Demon Slayer that this flower can offer hope, there is a blue spider lily out there … one that can save the characters in the show and banish evil for good. This flower is not to be feared but simply respected as a flower that brightens up graveyards. It reminds people to live life and that we are not immortal.
