[For Seniors] Interesting spring haiku: introducing verses with striking kigo and unique expressions

Last updated:2026/2/11

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.

When you sense the arrival of spring, don’t you feel like putting the scenes that catch your eye into words? Haiku is a uniquely Japanese art that expresses seasonal landscapes and feelings in the five-seven-five rhythm.

Among them, spring haiku are full of humorous works and seasonal words that make you chuckle.

For older adults especially, there’s a special joy in capturing the little “funny moments” and everyday “relatable things” from daily life in a verse.

In this article, we’ll introduce plenty of amusing haiku with a spring theme.

You can enjoy reading them—or try composing a verse of your own.

Please feel free to savor the world of haiku.

[For Seniors] Funny Spring Haiku: Introducing verses with striking unique expressions and seasonal words (1–10)

Scrawny frog, don’t lose, Issa is here.Kobayashi Issa

This is a memorable haiku depicting Issa cheering on a scrawny frog.

The piece is famous among haiku, and the final line, “Issa is here,” is particularly distinctive and unusual.

He’s encouraging a frog that looks likely to lose a battle for a female, while declaring that he himself is present.

There are theories that he projected his own misfortune of being unable to marry onto the frog, and others that he composed it with his sickly child in mind.

Issa married for the first time at age fifty-two, but all of his children died one after another.

Knowing this background helps us understand Issa’s feelings as he cheers on the frog.

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Sparrow chicks, out of the way, out of the way—His Lordship’s horse is passingKobayashi Issa

The seasonal word “sparrow’s chick” is a term that signifies spring.

Also, this verse is in a broken meter, meaning it departs from haiku’s standard 5-7-5 pattern.

By doing so, it creates impact and a rhythm that’s easy to hum.

In this poem, the speaker tells the sparrows, “Move away quickly, or the horse will trample you.” It conveys the gentle character of someone who wishes to protect the tiny sparrows’ lives.

This haiku is included in Ora ga Haru (My Spring), a collection of verses Kobayashi Issa composed while he was in Shinano.

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If only I were a flower that bursts into laughter in the spring breeze.Matsuo Bashō

“Fukidashi-warau” is an expression that describes the blooming of spring flowers.

It’s lovely to portray flowers blossoming in spring as if living creatures were popping out and laughing.

From this piece, you can feel not only the beautiful spring scenery but also its light and gentle atmosphere.

Spring has pleasant weather and many perfect days for outings.

It’s also the season when grasses and flowers sprout and brim with life, so why not go out to see flowers like those in this work? It will surely become an unforgettable memory.

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Dejectedly, stumbling as I pluck—horsetails.Takarai Kikaku

The seasonal word is “tsukushi,” read as “tsukushi.” For many people, spring immediately calls to mind tsukushi, doesn’t it? You can play with them, and they’re delicious simmered in soy sauce, too! This poem is a spring verse with tsukushi as its theme, but it doesn’t feel particularly cheerful.

Because of the word “sugosugoto,” which conveys a plodding, quietly persistent manner, it gives the impression of someone gathering tsukushi as if it were mere labor.

It makes you wonder why they’re picking tsukushi, doesn’t it?

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Bamboo shoots—where on earth did they come from, tossed by fickle fate?Kobayashi Issa

The “unpu tenpu” in this verse, when written in kanji, is 運否天賦.

It means that fortune or misfortune is a matter of fate, to leave one’s luck to heaven.

In other words, this verse is likely saying that the emergence of bamboo shoots—the season word—is decided by heaven.

One might even say that deliberately using the term unpu tenpu is characteristic of Kobayashi Issa.

Around March, many people go out to dig bamboo shoots, a taste of spring.

When you’re about to give up after failing to find any, you may recall this verse.

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Bush warbler—behind the willows, before the thicketMatsuo Bashō

The bush warbler is a small bird that sings “hoo-hokekyo” when spring arrives, heralding the season’s coming.

Matsuo Basho watched as the bird, chirping all the while, flitted busily from behind a willow to the edge of a thicket.

The particle “ya” is a light sound that feels like a call to the bird’s voice.

Basho pauses his steps and, as if chasing the warbler, traces its movements with his eyes.

In a spring field surrounded by the green of willows and the trees of the thicket, one can picture the tiny bird darting here and there—busy yet brimming with life.

Readers, too, can savor a tranquil moment within the spring scene, accompanied by the warbler’s song.

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Hometown—whichever way I look, the mountains smile.Masaoka Shiki

Let me introduce a work that evokes a bright spring scene.

This haiku is said to have been composed by Masaoka Shiki as he thought of spring in his hometown.

The seasonal word is “yamawarau” (“the mountains smile”), which conjures a warm landscape brimming with life, as if the grasses and flowers on the spring mountains are sprouting all at once.

The phrase “whichever way you look” tells us that you can feel the signs of spring no matter where you look.

Spring is a season that makes everyone’s heart dance; Masaoka Shiki, who composed this poem, surely felt the same.

It is a piece that makes you recall your hometown’s spring and gently close your eyes.

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