Sanzu River

The Sanzu-no-Kawa (三途の川, lit. "River of Three Crossings", or the "Sanzu River") is a mythological river in Japanese Buddhist tradition similar to the Hindu concept of the Vaitarna and Greek concept of the Styx.[1]

A depiction of the Sanzu River in Tosa Mitsunobu's Jūō-zu (十王図). The good can cross the river by a bridge while the evil are cast into the dragon-infested rapids.

Before reaching the afterlife, the souls of the deceased must cross the river to get to the other side, Higan (彼岸, lit. "[The] Distant Shore"), by-means of one of three crossing points: a bridge, a ford, or a stretch of deep, snake-infested waters.[2] The weight of one's offenses, while alive, determines which path an individual must take. It is believed that a toll of six mon must be paid before a soul can cross the river, a belief reflected in Japanese funerals when the necessary fee is placed in the casket with the dead,[3] not unlike the Charon's obols, in Greco-Roman mythology.

On the Land of the Dead's side of the Sanzu river, the riverside is said to be covered in carpets of flowerbeds of Higanbana (彼岸花, lit. the "Flower of Higan", the "Flower of the (Autumn) Equinox", or the "Flower of Distant Shore"), the Japanese Red Spider-Lily, a flower synonymous with death, the afterlife and with separation (as in 'final goodbyes'); Transmigration (of the Soul) and Spiritual Transformation. In old Buddhist writings, the Higanbana is said to guide the dead through Samsara (the cycle of rebirth). Higanbana are often used for funerals, planted around graveyards to keep pests away, as they're poisonous.

The Sanzu River is popularly believed to be in Mount Osore, a suitably desolate and remote part of Aomori Prefecture in northern Japan.

Similarly to the Sanzu-no-Kawa, there is also the Sai no Kawara (賽の河原, lit. "Riverbed of Death"), a boundary by which the souls of children who died too early cross over to the realm of the Dead, with the help of Jizō, a Kami/Bodhisattva who helps the souls of children who died too early (before they could gain much Karma, good or bad) to avoid the attentions of the Oni, of the Shikome, of the Shozuka-no-Baba and the Datsueba.