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

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)

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.

Raise the rankinglower

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.