Tajima Province: The Cave Kannon in Iwai Valley

A large gray rock wall occupies the left side of the picture, and partway up it a small hall built on stilts stands pressed against the rock. Stone steps lead from the hall down to the valley, where a thatched building sits below. At lower right a blue waterfall drops in white streaks, and green mountains overlap behind.

The gray of the rock face, the deep green of the cedar grove, and the indigo of the waterfall give the picture firmness, while bands of pink and yellow mist drift through the valley. The tall format is sandwiched between rock wall and waterfall on either side, with the mist in the middle creating depth, a composition fitting a sacred site deep in the mountains.

The "cave Kannon of Iwai Valley" in the title is said to be the Iwaya Kannon, the inner sanctuary of Garyu-ji temple in Iwatsu, Asago, Hyogo Prefecture today. It is a place where a group of stone Buddhas is enshrined beneath a great rock, and is thought to have been known in the Edo period as a sacred site of Tajima. Pilgrims are thought to have reached the temple's inner sanctuary by following a mountain path along the valley.

Tajima on the San'indo road is placed in the series next to Tango's Amanohashidate. The Art Institute of Chicago does not hold this print, and the image is of an impression held by the Tokyo National Museum. The National Diet Library's impression has the same composition. A sacred site with a hall built on a steep crag is a subject shared with the series' prints of Horai-ji in Mikawa and the Abuto Kannon in Bingo.