母の四十七回忌The forty-seventh memorial of my mother.
うどん供へて、母よ、わたくしもいただきまするI set out udon — mother, I too will eat
うどん そなえて、ははよ、わたくしも いただきまするudon sonaete, haha yo, watakushi mo itadakimasuru
昭和13年〜14年(1938-1939) 湯田・風来居1938–1939 · Yuda · Fūraikyo hut
『草木塔』孤寒Sōmokutō · Cold and Alone (Kokan)
母の四十七回忌の句。仏前にうどんを供え、母よ、わたくしもいただきまする、と語りかける。山頭火が十歳のとき、母は自ら命を絶った。その母への、いちばん率直な供養のかたちである。A poem on the forty-seventh memorial of his mother's death. He offers udon before the altar and speaks to her: mother, I too will eat. When Santōka was ten, his mother took her own life. This is the most direct form his devotion to that mother could take.