Souvenirs of Travel, Third Series: Arifuku Hotsprings, Iwami (Tabi miyage dai sanshu: Iwami Arifuku Onsen)

Arifuku Onsen occupies a narrow valley in Shimane Prefecture (historically Iwami province), where hot spring inns are built along a river gorge between densely forested hillsides. Hasui's composition would use the gorge's vertical topography to create depth—the stream or river visible at the base, inn buildings clinging to the banks, and forested slopes rising steeply on both sides. The Tabi miyage dai sanshu (Third Series) was published from 1922 onward and continued Hasui's documentation of regional onsen towns, which were growing in popularity as rail access improved during the Taisho period. The warm interior light of inn windows set against the cool exterior of evening or morning light is a compositional device Hasui used effectively in onsen subjects, creating a tonal contrast between ochre lantern glow and the blue-grey of dusk or mist-laden air.