Souls' Festival

Souls' Festival - context Summary

Composed for Souls' Festival

This short poem is situated at the Souls' Festival, the annual Japanese observance for honoring ancestral spirits. Its stark image of smoke from a crematory during the festival links communal ritual with the reality of death, suggesting how public remembrance and mortality coincide. The context—ritual offerings, ghosts, and family commemoration—frames the haiku’s spare observation as both a literal scene and a cultural moment of encountering loss.