Alongside his sculptural practice, Mokujiki composed waka poetry throughout his pilgrimages. Poems were inscribed on the reverse of works, written in correspondence, and collected in small anthologies. Yanagi Sōetsu published a selection as Mokujiki Shōnin waka senshū (木喰上人和歌選集) in 1926 — recognising Mokujiki as both sculptor and poet.
The poems are characterised by directness and the repetition of the devotional formula. Many return to the same themes: the inexhaustibility of the vow, the emptiness that persists after carving, the Buddha encountered in wood. Yanagi interpreted this quality of unselfconsciousness as mushin (無心) — the same quality he discerned in the sculptures themselves.
Poems articulating the vow to carve one thousand Buddhas
- #4 · W-004Inscription variant; cited in Yanagi 1925 kenkyū
いくたびも のみをあてては いのるかな 千体之内の 仏みちびく
Iku tabi mo / nomi o atete wa / inoru kana / sentai no uchi no / hotoke michibiku
Again and again / I set the chisel and pray — / within the thousand: / the Buddha guiding.
The phrase 千体之内 (sentai no uchi, "within a thousand") appears as both vow inscription and poetic motif throughout Mokujiki's career.
- #7 · W-007Yanagi 1926 waka senshū
よろずよの 神にいのりて わが刻む 仏のかたち 世にのこれかし
Yorozu yo no / kami ni inorite / waga kizamu / hotoke no katachi / yo ni nokorekashi
Praying to the gods / of ten thousand ages — / may the Buddhas I carve / remain in this world.
Expresses the votive intent behind the 千体之内 vow; Yanagi placed this poem as the epigraph to the 1926 selection.
- #8 · W-008Yanagi 1925 photo book, 解説No 43
壽長久はながくひさしきわが心 心にとへばいつも長久
Juchōkyū wa / nagaku hisashiki / waga kokoro / kokoro ni toeba / itsu mo chōkyū
Long-lasting longevity — / long and enduring / is my heart; / if you ask the heart: / always long, always lasting.
Calligraphic inscription on hanging scroll (長三尺×巾八寸八分). Written during Mokujiki's stay at Jōsen'in, Kawachi Village. The poem turns on the auspicious formula 壽長久 (juchōkyū), repeated as both subject and resolution — the heart that holds this aspiration is itself long-lasting.
Poems on the act of carving as devotional practice
- #2 · W-002Yanagi 1926 waka senshū
ゑがけども ゑがけどもなほ おもかげの 心にのこる 仏のすがた
Egake domo / egake domo nao / omokage no / kokoro ni nokoru / hotoke no sugata
Though I carve and carve, / still the image remains — / the face of the Buddha / lingering in the heart.
On the inexhaustibility of the devotional impulse; Yanagi cited this poem as evidence of Mokujiki's mushin.
Poems from the road — Tōhoku, Michinoku, the mountain passes
- #1 · W-001Yanagi 1926 waka senshū
ふかくはいれる 山のおくにも 仏あり 木喰みちびく 心のままに
Fukaku haireru / yama no oku ni mo / hotoke ari / Mokujiki michibiku / kokoro no mama ni
Even deep in the mountains, deep within — / there is Buddha. / Guided by Mokujiki, / as the heart wills.
Poem on the itinerant pilgrimage practice; the final couplet turns on the double meaning of michibiku (to guide / to be guided).
- #3 · W-003Yanagi 1926 waka senshū
みちのくの おくのおくにも はるきたり 木喰かたちの 仏にあいて
Michinoku no / oku no oku ni mo / haru kitari / Mokujiki katachi no / hotoke ni aite
Even to the depths of Michinoku / spring has come — / meeting a Buddha / carved in Mokujiki's form.
Michinoku (陸奥) refers to the Tōhoku region; the poem dates likely from the northern pilgrimage period (1778–1779).
- #6 · W-006Yanagi 1926 waka senshū
きさらぎや あしたのはなの 白雪に 木喰のすむ 峰の月よ
Kisaragi ya / ashita no hana no / shirayuki ni / Mokujiki no sumu / mine no tsuki yo
Kisaragi — / the white snow of morning blossoms; / where Mokujiki dwells, / the moon over the peak.
Kisaragi (如月) is the old name for the second lunar month (approximately February). The poem appears in the closing section of the Nantan folk song cycle and was adapted into the 木喰さん folk song.
Poems on emptiness, mind, and the shape of the heart
- #5 · W-005Yanagi 1926 waka senshū
こころとは もとをたずねて みれば むなしきものを 何かおもはむ
Kokoro to wa / moto o tazunete / mireba / munashiki mono o / nani ka omowamu
If you seek the heart / to its very root — / seeing emptiness, / what is there left to think?
A rare metaphysical poem; Yanagi read this as consonant with the Pure Land Buddhist concept of tariki — surrender rather than effort.
- #9 · W-009Widely attributed; cited in Kōka-gakuen essay (ON-008)
まるまるとまるめまるめよわが心 まん丸丸く 丸くまん丸
Maru maru to / marome marome yo / waga kokoro / man maru maruku / maruku man maru
Round and round — / make it round, make it round, / my heart; / perfectly round and round, / round and perfectly round.
Mokujiki's most celebrated poem. The word まる (maru, "round") recurs seven times, the poem enacting the shape it names. The image of a round heart — without corners, without resistance — mirrors the quality Yanagi Sōetsu identified in the 微笑仏 (smiling Buddha) sculptures: mushin (無心), a state of unselfconscious openness. Exact manuscript provenance is unconfirmed; the poem circulates widely in secondary literature on Mokujiki.
Primary sources: Yanagi Sōetsu. 柳宗悦. Mokujiki Shōnin waka senshū 木喰上人和歌選集. 1926. Archive copy held at sources/primary/yanagi_1926_waka_senshuu.zip. W-008 is drawn from the Yanagi 1925 photo book (解説No 43). Translations are working renderings for scholarly reference; all rights to Yanagi's selection are with the Japan Folk Crafts Association (日本民藝協会).