Mikawa Province: Horai Temple in the Mountains

At the bottom of the picture, people climb a valley path winding between yellow and green rocks, and at right a waterfall tumbles down. In a grove of cedars in the middle stands a red hall, and above it all is covered in white clouds. Above the clouds, steep rocky peaks tower, and on the mountainside at right a long stone stairway zigzags up nearly to the summit.

The yellow and green of the rock faces, the deep green of the summit, and the red touching the clouds create an otherworldly atmosphere like a land of immortals. The vertical composition strengthens the mountain's height by sandwiching clouds in several tiers, leading the viewer's eye from the valley path below to the rocky peaks above.

Horai-ji is a mountain temple said to have been founded by the ascetic Rishu Sennin. Because of the story that Tokugawa Ieyasu's mother prayed at this temple and was granted Ieyasu, it received generous protection from the shogunate in the Edo period, and a Toshogu shrine was built there in the Keian era. The mountain is also known for a bird that cries "Bupposo" at night.

For Mikawa Province the series chose a mountain sacred site rather than the seashore. The shapes of the rocky peaks are strongly exaggerated, which is thought to be Hiroshige's attempt to impress the steepness of the mountain. The impressions at the National Diet Library and the Tokyo National Museum have the same composition.