[Elderly] Haiku with the theme of August: Introducing famous verses

Last updated:2025/6/22

Social worker / Care workermoko
My name is Moko, a mother of three who admired my mother and worked in the care industry as a care worker and as a medical social worker (MSW) in a hospital. I will be drawing on my previous experience to write mainly about caregiving. Thank you in advance.

Do you compose haiku? Many older adults might enjoy them.

Since the sun is strong and we often spend time indoors in August, why not try engaging with haiku? In haiku, it’s standard to use a seasonal word called a “kigo” that indicates a specific season and to compose in the 5-7-5 pattern of 17 syllables.

For August, well-known kigo include morning glory, watermelon, the Milky Way, and cicadas.

In the haiku world, the period from around August 8 to around November 6 is considered “the three autumn months” and classified as autumn.

Therefore, August kigo range from ones with a strong summer feel to those that evoke autumn.

How about discussing what kinds of kigo there are and composing haiku on a theme you like?

[Elderly] Haiku with an August theme: Introducing famous verses (1–10)

Bonfires burn; far from the fireworks, a moored boat.Yosa Buson

A verse I would like to present as one that resonates with older adults is Yosa Buson’s: “Fires burning—/ a moored boat afar/ from the fireworks.” At dusk, with distant fireworks in the background, there is the warmth of a bonfire and a boat quietly at anchor.

In this poem, a hush contrasts with the bustle of summer, revealing a scenic beauty one comes to feel more keenly with age.

The seasonal word “fireworks” symbolizes fleeting, momentary brilliance, gently accompanying those who look back on life.

This single verse softly speaks of the particular wistfulness and elegance of August.

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How beautiful—the Bon Festival people within the moon.Gyotai Kato

This verse captures a moment during Obon, looking up at the moon and remembering the departed.

“The people of Obon” likely refers to the spirits who return with the welcoming fires.

In the full moon, their features seem to appear.

A fantastical and beautiful scene unfolds.

The straightforward exclamation “how beautiful” conveys not only loneliness but also a sense of joy at being able to meet again.

For older people, it may overlap with a quiet time of recalling those they once spent days with, making it a line that deeply touches the heart.

Under the moonlight, a gentle Obon atmosphere drifts—one where hearts connect without words.

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Crickets chirping—the torchlight goes ahead, bearing the loadTakarai Kikaku

This passage depicts a dreamlike scene woven from the chirping of bell crickets, which herald the beginning of autumn, and the light of torches used for the send-off fire.

The phrase “ni wa sete” can be read as evoking the image of someone walking with a burden on their back, as if carrying the spirit of the departed to the other world.

As the insects’ sounds resound, the torch flames flicker, and you can picture people moving quietly forward.

It is a verse that stirs the heart not with liveliness but with modesty, and it possesses a refinement best savored by those who have grown older.

The bell crickets’ song seems to gently awaken memories of bygone times and of those we have lost.

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Written in large characters: it has been composed as a summer mountain.Fusei Tomiyasu

When you look up at the mountain in summer, the character for “big” suddenly catches your eye.

No one has spoken it aloud, and yet the mountain’s shape naturally reads that way.

In this verse, such an unassuming moment quietly breathes.

Not the bustle of the fire festival, but the character that floats in the calm time before or after it.

Fusei gently receives this with “yomarekeri”—‘it is read,’ softly accepted.

Without forceful narration, the scene before you turns into words.

It is a single verse that evokes such a tranquil time.

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At home, poignant and plain, the Bon lanterns.Fusei Tomiyasu

The “Bon lanterns” depicted in this verse are the lanterns offered before graves, appearing at the important moments of sending off and welcoming ancestors.

The expression “aware arawani” captures the instant when feelings long kept deep within the heart suddenly come to light, and it will resonate especially with those of advanced years.

Amid lively customs, there is also a quietly kindled time for prayer.

It is a gentle verse, one that seems to invite dialogue with ancestors—and with oneself—within a space swathed in the flicker of light and shadow.

It is a work to be savored not only as a seasonal scene, but as a verse that touches the depths of the heart.

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Paper strips, cherished by my father—Soul FestivalSeishi Yamaguchi

This piece captures a scene from a soul festival—a ceremony honoring ancestors and individual spirits.

From the figure who “kneels in reverence,” as if gently delivering wishes written on a tanzaku to their father’s soul, we feel deep respect and affection.

It’s not merely a ritual; a quiet desire to cherish the bond and connection with the father comes through.

The familiar tool of the tanzaku resonates powerfully as an expression of the heart, leaving a gentle warmth in the reader.

It tenderly portrays a tranquil moment of remembering the departed.

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Ah, such stillness— the cry of cicadas sinks into the rocks.Matsuo Bashō

This verse is a celebrated masterpiece that contrasts the pristine stillness of the mountains with the sound of cicadas.

Opening with “Such stillness,” it conveys a profound silence beyond words.

And within that quiet, the depiction of the cicadas’ voices seeming to reach even the rocky cliffs is quintessential Basho.

It isn’t a boisterous sound; rather, their voices seem to melt into the depths of nature.

There’s nothing showy about it, but it slips gently into a heart seasoned by years—a classic summer verse.

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