Senior Citizen's Day

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Senior Citizen's Day

***** Location: India, Japan, worldwide
***** Season: Various, see below
***** Category: Humanity

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Explanation



getting older -
even the gods
need glasses

© Photo and Haiku by Gabi Greve, 2005

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- - - - - Kobayashi Issa　小林一茶

年よりや月を見るにもなむあみだ
toshiyori ya tsuki o miru ni mo Namu Amida

growing old -
even while moon gazing
I praise Amida Buddha!


Amida Prayer (Namu Amida Butsu)


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短夜をよろこぶとしと成にけり
mijikayo o yorokobu toshi to narinikeri

I'm old enough
to be very fond
of short nights

Comment by Chris Drake:

Issa wrote this hokku in the 5th month (June) at around the time of the summer solstice in 1819, when he was fifty-seven. From the days of courtly waka, short summer nights were associated with things that don't last long enough, especially meetings between lovers that are forcibly ended by the approach of dawn, when the man has to say farewell and go back to his own house before he is detected. Issa doesn't say why summer nights, which were once too short, are now so enjoyable, but warm summer weather might be one reason.
The long, cold, snowy winter nights in his hometown may be grinding him down physically as he approaches old age -- a person who reached sixty in those days was regarded as having lived a long life. Another possible reason Issa now likes short nights might be that he sleeps less and more lightly than he once did.

A month before writing this hokku, Issa wrote the following hokku in 4/1819 that indicates he's aware he's beginning to get old:

toshiyori to miru ya naku ka mo mimi no kiwa

does it, too, think
I'm old? mosquito whining
right in my ear

1819 is also the year Issa evokes in Year of My Life, in which he includes a hokku about a mosquito similar to this one. In the above hokku about the mosquito Issa suggests he's beginning to feel old, since people evidently stand near one of his ears now when they have something important to say. Issa humorously claims he's been betrayed by a mosquito that's whining close by, virtually in his ear.
It's bad enough that other humans regard him as an oldster, but when a mosquito does it, then Issa knows things are really getting bad.


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Senior Citizen's Day is celebrated in many countries at various times.
For Alzheimer's Day, see below.


The mention of an "old person" might lead to the feeling of winter as a season for a haiku, but "old man", "old woman" it is not one of the traditional kigo.

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August 21, India
kigo for the Rains (Varsha)

It began as a single thought in my mind but soon grew to take the shape of a short narrative. This is a predicament that many old people are facing in India now. . . Too many children have left the Indian shore to work in foreign countries. To expect them to come back to look after their aging parents does not work well with many families – and the last thing old people want is to be uprooted . . .in few cases that seems to be the only solution. . .like in the haibun above. The problem especially grows in stature after the demise of any one partner .

Old-age home is a definite alternative . . . but India being the land where the Joint Family system flourished till recently – for an adult to live her / his last days in an old-age home is not a very comforting thought and most children feel a sense of guilt when they do that.

The moot point is – is it the duty of the child to take care of his/ her parents? It is a very serious question that is being debated all over India. . . A question that can never hope to have a precise answer for life is never in black and white but dwells in shades of grey. . . for each family has its own story and own decisions to make.

In Pune – we have a very strong N.R.I. [non-resident-Indian] club , formed by the parents of all the NRI children. They help each other- meet once a month or more often- it rolls into a senior citizens club too!

Kala Ramesh, August 2006

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stepping aside
for the old man
to walk in

Sunil Uniyal-India (New Delhi)
August 2010

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Old age
shriveling leaves
playful wind ruffle.

Bramdev Sharma
August 2010


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Worldwide use


. World Elders Day .
October 01

The International Day of Older Persons is observed on October 1 each year.

On December 14, 1990 the United Nations General Assembly voted to establish October 1 as the International Day of Older Persons as recorded in Resolution 45/106. The holiday was observed for the first time on October 1, 1991.

The holiday is celebrated by raising awareness about issues affecting the elderly, such as senescence and elder abuse. It is also a day to appreciate the contributions that older people make to society.

This holiday is similar to National Grandparents Day in the United States and Canada as well as Respect for the Aged Day in Japan. The observance is a focus of ageing organizations and the United Nations Programme on Ageing.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !



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Japan
September 15, kigo for mid-Autumn

Respect for the Aged Day, keiroo no hi
けいろうのひ、敬老の日
roojin no hi 老人の日（ろうじんのひ）Day of the Elderly
..... toshiyori no hi 年寄の日（としよりのひ）



Respect for the Aged Day -
he drives his car in the ditch
for no special reason



Gabi Greve, August 2006

Most of the farmers in my area are 65 and much much older ...


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If only, when one heard
That Old Age was coming
One could bolt the door
Answer 'not at home'
And refuse to meet him!

(Anonymous, "Kokinshu" Imperial poetry anthology, 10th century)

Read a long essay
. Aging through the ages
Japan in the year 2010



More than 230.000 elders over 100 are registered, but do not exist !

A total of 234,354 centenarians are unaccounted for across Japan despite still being registered as alive under the family registry system, the government said Friday based on its nationwide survey on missing elderly.

Of the persons aged 100 and over whose current domicile cannot be found, 77,118 would be 120 years old or older and 884 would be at least 150 years old if they were still alive, the Justice Ministry said.

The ministry has instructed regional legal affairs bureaus across the nation to delete from family register books the names of people aged 120 years or older whose domicile cannot be confirmed, it said.

Its impact on Japan’s average life expectancy is also likely to be minimal because the figures are calculated based on information collected for national censuses, conducted every five years, by field workers who directly visit households, and data on men aged 98 and over and women who are 103 years old or above are not included in computing life expectancy figures.
source : www.japantoday.com



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- - - Hojo Shigetoki, c. 1260, wrote :

It is said that when the elderly become enfeebled, they enter their second childhood.
Their hair becomes white, their foreheads become wrinkled, and their hips bend like a bow of catalpa wood. When looking in the mirror their image has changed, and one would doubt that they are the same person. The person who comes once in a great while to visit pays his respects and goes home, and there is truly no one who comes to stay awhile. The elderly person's mind has certainly changed from how it was in the past; he cannot remember the things that he has heard, and forgets what he has seen. He feels resentment in the things he should rejoice in, and rejoices in the things he should resent. These things are all in the nature of the elderly.

Understanding this well, one should first have sympathy with what his elderly parents have said, and not turn his back on them. When the way passed by one's parents has been long and their destination at hand, one may wonder how much longer he will listen to such words as theirs. At this time he should follow their dictums by all means. This will surely come to one's own mind after he has become old.
source : forums.samurai-archives.com


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ikaserete kyuujuunana sai aki higan

given to life
for 97 years -
autumn equinox

durchs Leben geführt
seit 97 Jahren -
Herbstsonnwende

Sugiura san is 97 years.

Read more here:
Haiku with Hundred, a collection of Japanese Haiku Poets
Tranlsated by Gabi Greve

ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo


getting older, growing old, toshi o toru　年を取る
For things, we say "furuku naru 古くなる".

In old Japan, it was customary for everyone to add one year of age on January First. The individual birthday was not celebrated. Some food is also connected with "taking on another year, toshitori". Here is Kobayashi Issa on the subject:

草の庵年取餅を買にけり
kusa no io toshitori mochi o kai ni keri

thatched hut -
buying rice dumplings
to grow older another year
(Tr. Gabi Greve)

Read more about it here.

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Kenya

Ageing ... Getting old in Kenya


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North America
December, kigo for Winter


Mills Lawn kindergartners always sing and bring good cheer to Senior Citizens' Day at Yellow Springs High School each December.
http://www.yellow-springs.k12.oh.us/ys-mls/senior_citizen's_day.htm

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Taiwan

Ninth day of the ninth month (old lunar calendar)
Kigo for Autumn

A number of activities are held on Senior Citizen's Day to show respect to the elderly, including the main Senior Citizen's Day Celebration. As the average age of Taiwan's population gradually increases, caring for the elderly takes on ever increasing importance. In caring for the elderly, Taiwan must formulate policies to safeguard their welfare and enhance social activities for the elderly, as well as instill an ethic of respect for the aged in daily life.
http://www.gio.gov.tw/info/festival_c/99_e/html/old.htm


According to Chinese custom, "nine" is a number belonging to the positive principle "yang," thus the day is also known as Chung Yang or "Double Yang" Festival.

The day is traditionally celebrated by activities including hill-climbing, drinking chrysanthemum wine, hanging dogwood sprays, and other customs handed down from the Han dynasty story
of Huan Ching and Fei Chang-fang, and were all originally practiced to avoid disaster and danger. Taking advantage of the high, cool fall winds of the season, the people on Taiwan have
enriched the holiday with kite-flying, a custom which has become immensely popular on the island over the years.

In Chinese, the word "nine" is homophonous with the word for "long time," and accordingly this number has come to represent longevity.

Thus, in 1966, the Ministry of Interior designated Double Ninth Day as Senior Citizen's Day in the ROC, and the week beginning on this holiday is observed as Senior Citizen's Week. Since then, Double Ninth Day has gradually lost its original purpose, becoming today a time of expressing gratitude to the elderly for their hard work and continuing the Chinese tradition of revering the old.

Every major holiday in Taiwan is characterized by special dishes with traditional meaning, and Double Nine Day is no exception to this rule. Double Nine Cakes are eaten to symbolize luck and the "ascendance of all things" since "cake" is homophonous with "high" in Chinese.

Through the ages, Double Nine Day has evolved into a rich and varied occasion, with hill climbing and kite flying activities to strengthen the body, soul and heart; and Senior Citizens' Day to invigorate the traditional Chinese values of filial piety and caring for the elderly. The occasion is thus a time both of good spirit and deep traditional significance.
©　IACC Newsletter
http://www.iacc.com.tw/newsletter/2002-10.htm


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Things found on the way

Haibun, contributed by Kala Ramesh

And so, an hour passes . . .

dead body . . .
only the shadows of leaves
dance on her face

My wife died – thirteen days back.
To be single again - it’s a strange feeling that after sixty-six years of togetherness, I am all alone.

Like the River Cauvery that swells in the monsoons then becomes so thin that it seems almost like a drawn line, my family was huge once when my five children were small - kids take wings and take off and slowly my wife and I just grew accustomed to being by ourselves.

My son and my daughter-in-law are here. They keep insisting that I will feel miserable in London. I keep telling them that I am ready to go with them. My daughter-in-law says "But papa, you have your temple, your friends here. What will you do there? It’s a foreign country papa, try to understand.

"How can I tell her that I am scared of staying alone? Won’t my grand children laugh at me?

the chameleon
changes its colours . . .
sultry morning

First published in Simply Haiku – Fall 05. Vol. 3 No. 3


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The Life at Sun-Heim, Home for the Elderly
. Painting Daruma .


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HAIKU

autumn dusk
an elderly couple
walk their dog

senior citizens club:
air more refreshing
than the talk

Kala Ramesh, August 2006

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Bent but holds on,
The old wishes not to go
Weak but sharp.

Aju Mukhopadhyay, India

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ancient oak
in the village square ...
one day I will join you

still counting sheep
in his sleep
old shepherd

Ella Wagemakers

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senior admission
I used to be
an adult

Bill Kenney


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winter evening
the chit-chatting old women
giggle like girls

Lary Bole

Even though I heard the women during a winter evening, I thought about in which season it would be most appropriate to set this haiku, and toyed with the idea of a spring evening. But I felt that "winter evening" is a better context for old women feeling girlish in the winter of their lives.
I also felt that "spring evening" would be too obvious.

Matsuo Basho, in the following haiku, expresses a different sentiment:

今日ばかり人も年寄れ初時雨
kyoo bakari hito mo toshiyore hatsushigure

For a linked verse gathering at Kyoriku's cottage, 3rd of Tenth Month, fifth year of Genroku

just today,
let's all be old:
first winter shower
Tr. Barhill

just for today
let us all be aged men--
first winter shower
Tr. Ueda

Barnhill notes that the attendees at the haikai gathering were Basho, Kyoriku, Ranran, Shadoo, and Taisui.

The commentator Nobutane, in Ueda's "Basho and His Interpreters", says:
Young people, being full of energy, rarely feel 'mono no aware'. When they become old and lose their vitality, they are easily bothered by little things. That is the difference between youth and old age. The poet therefore asks everyone to grow aged that particular day before looking up at the showery sky. Here is a display of superb art.

Larry Bole
February 2012


today is a day
when people just (huddle and) grow old -
first winter drizzle

Tr. Gabi Greve, Winter Drizzle


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Jitoku no shin 自得の箴

めでたき人の数にも入らむ老の暮
medetaki hito no kazu ni mo iran oi no kure

soon I belong
to the fortunate people -
year ends in old age


Written in 1686 貞亨3年暮 as the inscription to a painting.
Basho has celebrated his 42th birthday at the beginning of this year. 42 for a man was a birthday of the "first time getting old" 初老. People did not get much older than 50 in the Edo period.
If he passes this year and into the next, he will be on the "lucky" side.
Personal yakudoshi 厄年 "years of calamity" were important.
For men, the ages 25 and 42 are deemed critical years, with 42 being especially critical. It is customary in these unlucky years to visit a temple or shrine to pray for divine protection from harm and buy a special amulet.

iramu 入らむ iran

shoroo, hatsu oi 初老 a man passed middle age.


. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .


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The aged swordsmen,
Watching the seasons pass by-
Dust on his bokken...

- Shared by Steve Weiss
Joys of Japan, March 2012



The aged archer,
Watching the seasons pass by-
Dust on his arrows....

Gabi Greve


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Related words

***** World Alzheimer's Day
September 21
kigo for autumn
memory loss, senility, dementia, young Alzheimer



One hundred years after Dr Alois Alzheimer first described Alzheimer's disease, the world unites to commemorate World Alzheimer's Day, 21 September.
Shocking figures published in the medical journal The Lancet warn of an imminent dementia epidemic. With one new case every seven seconds the number of people with dementia will increase to 81 million by 2040.

‘As the number of people with dementia around the world reaches epidemic proportions there has never been a better time to bring dementia to the attention of the world's policy makers. Governments need to prepare their health and social systems. They must provide quality community-based services, invest in research and give access to new treatments. We have no time to lose in making dementia a global health priority,' said Michael Lefevre, Executive Director of Alzheimer's Disease International (ADI).
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=52352&nfid=rssfeeds


memory loss
at the kitchen table -
who are you ?



Gabi Greve, May 2006



autumn with alzheimer -
she breaks the bread
.. ... .. carefully

Gabi Greve, September 2007

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late afternoon --
again, she sweeps
pieces of sunlight

Carol Raisfeld, 2007


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in this group
at the age of wisdom ~
rocking chairs

- Shared by Elaine Andre -
Group: Joys of Japan, October 2012



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***** Senior Citizen, Elder, Elderly, Old People
non-seasonal topic for haiku


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September 15, 2014

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