Lake of the Departed

Lake of the Departed Kanji 彼岸湖 Game Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water Located at Mount Hikami Function Natural lake Status Still extant

The Lake of the Departed is a caldera lake in Twilit Peak at the summit of Mt. Hikami. It has a beautiful beach with white sand, and the surface is covered in fog year round, making it a mysterious place. The Hidden World is inside the lake, the fog lifting a few times a year when the evening sun sets upon the lake's surface, according to legend joining the Hidden World to ours. The Lake of the Departed is the "real world" version of the Shadowspring, the source of the black water.

Name origin

The first two characters in the lake's name (read higan) mean "other shore". The "other shore" refers to the Pure Land Buddhism belief that the Sukhavati, or western Pure Land, can supposedly be found by following the path of the setting sun from the east, where it rises, to where it sets in the west. The place is supposedly a land of extreme beauty, and reaching it is compared to having attained enlightenment. An old tradition would have people pray to the sun as it sank into the west, sending their thoughts to the Pure Land. The origin of the term "higan", meaning "sun prayers" (日願), supposedly stems from this and primeval sun-worship, and it is theorised that the "other shore" meaning was added later by Buddhism. It refers to the opposite bank of the Sanzu River, where one is said to attain enlightenment and be freed from suffering, and is occasionally used as a euphemism for dying.