大和多武峯談山神社全景

About this photo

A large slope covered in dark woods runs diagonally down from the upper left toward the right. About a third of the picture, at the upper right, is bright, pale sky. From the middle of the slope downward, several bright horizontal streaks are scattered, with the ones at the middle right and the lower left standing out most. The whole photo is dark, with little difference between light and shadow.

"Yamato Tonomine" in the title names the place where the shrine stands. Tanzan Shrine still describes itself today as a shrine at Tonomine in Yamato. Its grounds have been chosen as one of Nara Prefecture's landscape assets, under the name "The Grounds of Tanzan Shrine with a View of the Thirteen-Story Pagoda."

Look closely where the slope meets the sky at the upper right: along the ridgeline, the fine shapes of the trees stand in a jagged row. On the whole dark slope, only this line against the sky is crisp and clear.

Glossary