〜を頼りに (~o tayori ni) — relying on / with the help of

Moving forward holding on to one support — a map, a cane, a friend's advice.

Formula (सूत्र ढाँचा)

N N + を頼りに＋ V

N N + を頼りにして／を頼りとして＋ V

The first time you went looking for the 市役所 in Japan: phone map in hand, eyes glued to it until you got there — that is exactly 「地図を頼りに市役所まで行った」.

「頼り（たより）」= 'support, something to lean on'; 「Nを頼りに」= leaning on that one thing, holding on to it.
The feeling: I had nothing else, this was my one support — so a hint of weakness or difficulty comes with it.
Grandfather 「つえを頼りにして歩いている」(walks leaning on his cane); the new guy 「先輩の言葉を頼りに仕事を覚えた」(learned the job relying only on what his senior told him).

N4「地図で行った」just names the tool; 「地図を頼りに」adds 'without that map I'd have been lost'.
N3「〜によって」(法律によって決まる) is a basis or cause — rules and facts; 「を頼りに」is a person's emotional reliance.
「〜をもとに」(a later lesson) says 'built something new on that basis'; 「を頼りに」says 'clung to it and kept going'.

Usually there is one main support — the feeling 'without this I'd have been lost'; with many things (「いろいろな本を頼りに」) that feeling grows weak.

スマホの地図を頼りに、初めての市役所まで行った。

スマホのちずをたよりに、はじめてのしやくしょまでいった。

Relying on the map on my phone, I made it to the city office for the first time.

How it is built (कसरी बन्यो) 地図 = map (the only thing to rely on) → we attach 「を頼りに」 → then what I did: 市役所まで行った.

祖父はつえを頼りにして、毎朝近くの公園まで歩いている。

そふはつえをたよりにして、まいあさちかくのこうえんまであるいている。

Leaning on his cane, my grandfather walks to the nearby park every morning.

How it is built (कसरी बन्यो) つえ = cane → 「を頼りにして」 (the longer form with して, easy in speech) → then the verb: 歩いている.

日本に来たばかりのころは、先輩のアドバイスを頼りに仕事を覚えた。

にほんにきたばかりのころは、せんぱいのアドバイスをたよりにしごとをおぼえた。

When I had just come to Japan, I learned the job by relying on my senior's advice.

How it is built (कसरी बन्यो) 先輩のアドバイス = my senior's advice (there was nothing else to rely on) → 「を頼りに」 → then: 仕事を覚えた (I learned the job).

Question: 1/3

「古い写真＿頼りに、昔の友達の家を探した。」— fill the blank.

💡 Hint: Which particle goes before 「頼り」?