Prayer Tablets

The wooden prayer tablets that can be found adorning shinto shrines are called ema. Blank ema can be purchased for a small fee, and then prayers and other messages can be written on them before they are hung up by the shrine:

If the shrine has a particular theme then most likely there will be ema available that are decorated with motifs that fit that theme. Thus the shogi shrine I visited in Tokyo had ema decorated with shogi pieces, and the rugby shrine in northern Kyoto had ema featuring rugby balls. Below are some ema from a small shrine in central Kyoto that has a crow as its thematic animal (associated with good luck for matchmaking and marriage):

Ema hanging outside Miroku-in, the neighborhood shrine very close to our house. Because Miroku-in is located on the Philosopher's Path, quite a few of the ema here are written in languages other than Japanese.

Ema left for us at Miroku-in by our friends Barb, Lisa, and Lili, after their stay with us in April: