We just passed Silver Week, which is a shorter version of Golden Week. I had a fun time with my daughter and her family, and I also went out with my husband. During Silver Week, we had Ohigan, which is a Buddhism event. My husband and I went back to our hometown to visit his parents' grave. On the way home, we saw red spider lilies in bloom.

When I was a kid, they bloomed everywhere. Since they bloom around Ohigan, they are called 彼岸花 (higan-bana). They are bloody red, so I was always scared of them. You might have seen these flowers in Japanese horror movies or TV dramas. They made me think dead people because of the color and blooming time, so maybe that's why I didn't like them. My parents used to say not touching them because they were poisonous. It also frightened me.

Since I became an adult, I haven't seen them as many as I used to. I'm not sure whether it relates to climate change. It's ironic, but the less often I see them, the more I find myself missing them. Now, I feel differently and I rather think they look pretty. I don't know any flowers that have a such vivid, bright red color except 彼岸花. The contrast between their red and green grass looks definitely mysterious.

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