絵馬 – Ema

An ema is a wooden plate on which to write a wish or a prayer.  We offer money at a Shinto shrine to receive an ema.  When we pick it up, one side has a picture, and the other side is blank to write our own wishes or prayers. We normally leave it hanging in the shrine after we write our wish.

The word ema literally means “picture of a horse”.  From ancient times people believed God would descend on a horse, so horses were offered to shrines.  But horses were too expensive to offer, and also shrines often had a hard time caring for the horse afterwards, so people started using wooden or clay horses instead.  Then people started using a wooden plaque with a picture of horse on it. That was the origin of the ema. Today many kinds of pictures are used and it does not have to be a horse at all.

We offer ema making workshops at SCETA Japan Center.  Please see photos.