The Other Shore’s Evening Primrose

Red spider lilies bloom on the far shore of the River of Forgetfulness. They are the flowers of the other shore.

When souls cross the river, they forget everything from their former lives.

Everything they once knew is left behind on the far shore.

The dead follow these flowers' guidance to the Netherworld.

Red spider lilies bloom in red, bewitching and forlorn,

like an elusive passion, flickering faintly in the imagination across lifetimes.

The far shore is where the memories of past lives are erased.

All tenderness, passion, devotion, deceit, kindness, and evil are buried in its soil.

Only the red spider lilies hear the soil's secrets.

That is why every flower holds a memory.

When souls are permitted to be reincarnated and draw near the River of Forgetfulness once more,

the red spider lilies are visible in the distance. Their fragrance returns each memory to its owner.

The flower of the other shore, the gentleness of demons. Legend says that a flower once willingly entered Hell. The demons sent it back, but it continued to linger along the road to the underworld. They took pity on it and allowed it to bloom there, offering guidance and comfort to souls leaving the human world.

It is said that this flower blooms only in the underworld, along the banks of the Sanzu River and on the far shore of the River of Forgetfulness, where it guides the dead. Its blossoms are as vivid and scarlet as blood, covering the road to Hell. It bears flowers but no leaves, and is the only flower in the Netherworld. Its fragrance has the power to awaken the memories of the dead. Great fields of it bloom along the road to the underworld, looking from afar like a carpet woven of blood. Because its red is as fierce as fire, it is called the “Road of Firelight,” the only scenery and color along that long road to the underworld.

The flower of the other shore blooms for a thousand years and withers for a thousand years. Flower and leaf never meet. Love is not bound by cause and effect; fate decides life and death.