The Beginning Autumn Gives Japanese People a Great Excuse to Post to Social Media · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

Higanbana (Red spider lily, Lycoris radiata). Photo by Flickr user resonanced sky. (CC BY-NC 2.0)
September 22 marks the Autumnal equinox and the first day of fall in the Northern Hemisphere. The day is known as Shubun (秋分) and has its origins in the 24 points found in the traditional East Asian lunisolar calendar.
The day holds great significance in Japanese culture, and—in a modern addition to age-old traditions—people upload photos of flowers, food. and pastoral scenes to social media.
二十四節季の１つ「秋分」になりました。春分と同じく太陽が真東から登り真西に沈み、昼夜の長さがほぼ等しくなります。秋分の日は「祖先をうやまい、亡くなった人々をしのぶ」日として昭和23年に制定されました。秋の彼岸の中日にもあたります。 pic.twitter.com/DaT2zT8pwp
— 神社検定 (@jinjakentei) September 22, 2016
Higan is know as Qiufen or the Autumnal equinox in the traditional East Asian lunisolar calendar (二十四節季). Just as with the Vernal equinox that marks the start of spring, the sun rises in the middle of the eastern horizon and sets in the middle of the western horizon. Shubun (秋分, the Autumnal equinox) officially became designated as the day to “venerate the ancestors and mourn the departed” in 1948.
The Autumnal equinox also occurs in the middle of Higan.
In Japan, the equinox falls in the middle of a week-long period known as Higan (お彼岸), which is observed as a Buddhist holiday, and families return to their ancestral homes to visit and clean the graves.
9月22日(木)は秋分の日
沈みゆく太陽を礼拝する事で、彼方にある極楽浄土に生まれ変わると願ったのがお彼岸の始まり…
秋分の日の前後七日間がお彼岸の期間となり『先祖を敬い亡き人を偲ぶ 』
ご先祖様のご供養におはぎを…9月に咲く萩の花のように、細長い俵型に整えます。 pic.twitter.com/PX0fgonB7x
— ちー (@blendykotya) September 21, 2016
September 22 (Thursday) is the Autumnal Equinox
As we give a prayer to the setting sun, Higan, when we pray for the rebirth of the departed in heaven (極楽浄土, Sukhavati, Amitabha's Pure Land), begins. The period of seven days surrounding the Autumnal equinox is known as O-Higan, when we “pay our respects to the ancestors and remember the departed.”
We provide offerings of ohagi (rice cakes) to our ancestors […] with hagi the flower (Japanese clover).
Higan is heralded each year by the presence of the flowering Higanbana (Red spider lily, Lycoris radiata), which flowers in the week or so around the Autumnal equinox.
And, each autumn, the hashtag #higan (#彼岸) trends on Twitter—the red flowers provide excellent opportunities for amateur photographers
お彼岸近し、咲き始め。 pic.twitter.com/TchCkruF93
— aiko☆papa 大阪&奈良で絶叫円陣 (@aikopapa) September 13, 2016
As Higan draws near the Red spider lilies are coming into bloom.
今日は9月21日（旧暦8月21日）の水曜日
「彼岸花（ひがんばな）」
秋のお彼岸のころに開花する花。
曼珠沙華（まんじゅしゃげ）とも呼ばれますが、これは天に咲く赤い花という意味です。◯https://t.co/OPnU64fISu pic.twitter.com/JweuQyr795
— 暦生活 (@543life) September 20, 2016
It's September 21 (August 21 on the old Japanese lunisolar calendar). Higanbana (Red spider lily) blooms around the time of Higan. Called “manjushage” (曼珠沙華), it is said to be the “flowering red blossom of the heavens.”
@26Heisei
こんばんは♪
彼岸花、こちらではもう咲き始めてますよ。今年はちょっと早めの
ような気がしますが…
後もう少しでお彼岸ですね。
暑い夏ともお別れかな・・
(#^.^#) pic.twitter.com/uQyVu4OpRJ
— emi (@Satuki_eys0510) September 14, 2016
Hello everyone, the Higanbana are already blooming here. This year I get the feeling they're a little early, and it will be Higan soon. Hopefully this will put an end to a hot summer.
Higan coincides with the fall harvest season, so typically fall foods, especially those that feature the newly harvested rice, are eaten.
お彼岸メニューはおはぎ
甘いんだからデザートだろうとオカズを先に食べたらお腹いっぱいで入らなくなった pic.twitter.com/nLjbnwesRV
— 犬猫烏骨鶏@切迫早産入院中 (@kawakamiinu) September 22, 2016
Ohagi are on the menu for Higan… it's sweet so I saved it for desert, but after I finished everything else I was too full and couldn't eat it!
While warm weather will continue in Japan for at least another month, Higan does promise that the cool days of autumn are not far off. And perhaps for some, the cool weather means cats come in from the cold to cuddle and keep warm:
お彼岸なので、猫の時間に来ました(？) pic.twitter.com/dMQ2M1zCC8
— 三ツ矢学は９／２８生誕 (@m1tsuya_0928) September 22, 2016
It's Higan, so perhaps it's time for cats as well?