One Hundred Famous Views of Edo No.49Fudo Waterfall at Oji

In the Oji area there was a temple on the top of a hill on the south side of a ravine through which flowed the Takino River (“river of waterfalls”). At the back of the temple grounds was a precipice over which water from a spring fell in torrents to a basin below. Beside the waterfall was a small temple in which Fudo, the Buddhist god of fire, was enshrined and thus it was named Fudo no Taki (“Fudo waterfall”). People originally visited this place to purify themselves for religious reasons or to recover from disease or illness by standing under the waterfall. Also, during the Edo period it was not customary for people to bathe in the sea, so instead they went to a waterfall simply to cool themselves down.
Fudo waterfall was the most famous in the area, and a description in an old guidebook reads: “Water falls down in torrents over a precipice. It is always dark around the basin because the thick foliage of trees prevents the sun’s rays from penetrating below, and the ground is covered with a carpet of moss.” It was said that anyone who stood here would feel cool in a short time, even in the heat of the summer.
Men and women, both young and old, came here in the latter part of the Edo period to bathe in the waterfall. Men stood under it naked except for loincloths, and women who chose to bathe wore yukatas, a casual kimono, with towels wrapped around their heads.
When many people came to visit the waterfall, the temple made its main hall and guesthouse available to them for a fee. This print shows two benches for visitors set up in front of the waterfall, as well as an elderly maidservant serving a cup of tea to a man. Two ladies holding paper parasols are standing on the ground to watch the waterfall rather than bathing in the water itself.