This Iwafunejizoson deity is shown riding a boat in an image found alongside Sanbuichi Yusui Park.
It is said that in 1719, a journey embarked from Iwafune in Shimotsuke Province (Tochigi Prefecture) carrying a Jizoson deity that was transferred from village to village during the mid-Edo Period (1603-1868). At each of the villages where the Jizoson traveled through, an Iwafune Jizoson image was erected in commemoration.
There is another legend that associates the Iwafune Jizoson with the frequent landslides that were caused by heavy rain along the southern slopes of Mount Yatsugatake. Whenever such rainfalls occurred, a landslide swept away large rocks that mowed down trees, bridges and houses in their path. During the Edo Period, the people of Koarama called these disasters “Ondashi” (literally, “push out”) out of fear, and erected a stone monument, summoning the Iwafune Jizoson deity from Shimotsuke Province (Tochigi Prefecture), as it was known to have the power to control floods.