In the old time in Japan, it was a custom for wealthy families to donate horses to shrines, as part of the invocations and a sign of respect for kami. In time, this practice changed, first the donations became horse statues and finally changed into small wooden plaques featuring the painting of a horse, called ema. On these plaques, the worshipers are writing their thanks, wishes and prayers, hanging them on special racks at the shrines, in order to be read by the kami. In time, the paintings on ema diversified to various animals from Shinto mythology, Chinese zodiac, folklore (e.g. kitsune) or representations of kami: Since the growth of the anime culture, many elements of Shinto practice and mythology appeared in the anime plots so, for me, it wasn’t very unexpected that several years ago, ema started to feature paintings of anime characters. Read more »
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