Tomoko Takeuji identifies the 1929 photograph Boy Priest SittingKobōzu zazō (). In later books an English title has been variously given as Boy Priest Sitting (The Age of Art Photography, plate 30, p. 56), Portrait of Seated Child Priest (Yume no kageri, plate 59, p. 94); and Portrait of Child Priest Seated (The Legend in Art Photography, plate s54, p. 44). as the point at which Shiotani matured as a photographer. This was published as a contest winner in the September 1929 issue of Geijutsu Shashin Kenkyū, where Kenkichi Nakajima praised it for its lack of gimmickry and for its calm.The comments are reproduced on p. 73 of Itoshiki mono e, although next to a subtly different photograph from 1930. Both Kometani and the younger photographer Eiichi Sakurai also praised it. The photograph shows the then 15-year-old priest Kōsen Daigaku,, Daigaku Kōsen, 1913–2000. As printed, Tsutatani's essay names him as "YASUYOSHI Hisao (later Daigaku, 1913–2000)" (in the Japanese-language original, as ); however, an errata slip for the book corrects this. who had been at the Sōtō temple Kaizō-ji (), near Shiotani's house, for less than a year; he was very lonely there but his dignity led Shiotani to make many portraits of him. Shiotani also photographed the other child priests and the chief priest at the temple, of which Shiotani was the chief parishioner.
