# Santoka Alarm — Wake to a haiku · calm alarm

> Wake to a haiku · calm alarm (iPhone/iPad app by Yujiro Ichikawa.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/santoka-alarm/id6788003118 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Yujiro Ichikawa](https://appshunter.io/developer/1880599751)
- Category: Lifestyle, Books
- Price: Free
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 26.0 · 117 MB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2026-07-14
- Data updated: 2026-09-04
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/santoka-alarm/id6788003118/reviews.md

## What is Santoka Alarm?

Wake each morning to a single haiku by Santoka Taneda.

Santoka Alarm greets your morning with a poem instead of a jarring buzzer. When the alarm sounds, all you have to do is listen. The screen shifts slowly from the deep indigo of the pre-dawn sky to the warm color of Japanese paper.

The morning, in four quiet moments:

1. Music
Rain, wind, a running stream. An ambient sound chosen to suit the poem fades in gently and lifts you from the depths of sleep.

2. Today's haiku
A haiku by Santoka appears in vertical writing and is read aloud, slowly. Unhurried, with space to breathe.

3. Era and collection
When, and on what journey, the poem was written — added quietly.

4. Commentary
A short note on the background and heart of the poem. By the time it ends, you are awake.

Features
- All 701 poems from the collection "Somokuto" (Grass and Tree Stupa), each with a reading and commentary
- A browser to wander the poems by collection and era
- Choose a favorite poem to wake to tomorrow with "wake to this poem"
- Auto mode picks only poems that suit today's season — no summer poem on a winter morning
- Uses the iOS system alarm (AlarmKit); rings even in Silent mode
- Poems, commentary, and narration are all stored in the app; works offline
- No account required, no ads

About Santoka Taneda
Santoka Taneda (1882–1940) was a leading poet of free-form haiku, unbound by the traditional 5-7-5 structure. In his forties he became a monk and walked western Japan with a single bamboo hat, begging and composing poems in the language of everyday life.

"Ever deeper, ever deeper — the green mountains"
"A straight road, and lonely"
"My back, receding into the drizzle"

Plain, never sentimental, these poems slip easily into a waking mind.

The poem texts are based on "Somokuto" (public domain) from Aozora Bunko.


## Version history (last 3 releases)

### 1.0.2 — 2026-08-31

・After your third morning, the app asks once — and only once — for a review.
・Tidied up anonymous usage insights. Nothing personally identifiable is sent.

### 1.0.1 — 2026-07-15

・"Choose your own" now reads every poem aloud in the crafted voice.
・New "Auto" ambient sound fits each morning's poem.
・Steadier morning playback: fixed a launch crash and audio glitches.
・Corrected several misreadings in the poems and notes.

### 1.0.0 — 2026-07-15

No release notes.

## More apps by Yujiro Ichikawa

- [monipo - Wake Up to a Letter](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/monipo-wake-up-to-a-letter/id6759779629)

All apps by Yujiro Ichikawa: https://appshunter.io/developer/1880599751

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-09-04.*