[For Seniors] Evoking autumn scenes: Introducing beautiful haiku for October

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.

October, when the climate turns mild and the colorful trees stand out, is the perfect season for composing haiku.

We hope older adults, too, will enjoy turning the scenes they see on autumn walks or from their balconies into haiku.

Haiku, which conveys feelings in just a few words, is a recreational activity that effectively stimulates the brain and soothes the heart.

This time, we will introduce beautiful haiku perfectly suited to October.

Autumn’s unique landscapes and seasonal foods—why not try composing haiku about the scenes that come to mind, while sharing them together?

[For Seniors] Evoking Autumn Scenery: Beautiful Haiku for October (11–20)

The more I gaze, the more fleeting they seem—the clouds of autumn.Dakotsu Iida

Dakotsu Iida, who composed haiku about autumn clouds, was a haiku poet active from the Meiji to the Showa era.

His haiku, which are both beautiful and dignified in tone and depict nature, are said to follow the style established by Matsuo Basho.

Boldly singing of nature, Iida seems to have left haiku capturing what he felt when he saw the clouds in the autumn sky.

When we think of autumn clouds, are sardine clouds (iwashi-gumo) and sheep clouds (hitsuji-gumo) the famous ones? It’s also nice to go for a walk with an older adult and compose haiku after actually looking up at the sky.

You can enjoy the haiku that seniors create as they gaze at the clear autumn sky.

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Nakajima Junko

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Autumn winds—the red flower the insects loved.Kobayashi Issa

This is a haiku by Kobayashi Issa, renowned as one of the three great haiku poets of the Edo period.

He established the Issa style, which avoids difficult expressions and words, and this haiku is one example.

Issa composed it while visiting the grave of his eldest daughter, who had died young.

As the autumn wind blew, he saw a red flower swaying and remembered how his child had wanted to pluck it.

The haiku conveys both the loneliness of autumn and the deep sorrow of losing one’s child—beautiful yet painful in its content.

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sasashina

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In conclusion

October is a comfortable season, and it’s an especially easy time to enjoy lively conversations with older adults.

On long autumn evenings, you might compose haiku or reminisce about cherished memories.

Try weaving into daily life the pleasure of capturing seasonal moments and memories in verse.

Listening to each other’s poems and sharing empathy will surely become precious, wonderful moments.