Have you ever heard of the practice of 絵馬 (Ema)?

絵馬 (Ema) is the practice of writing a personal wish or prayer on a wooden plaque. This usually takes place at Shinto shrines throughout Japan. 絵馬 (Ema) usually has an image painted on the front, often accompanied by the word gan-i (meaning “wish”), and a string through a hole at the top for hanging. On the back of the 絵馬 (Ema) is where you write your wish.

The traditional roof-shaped top edge is meant to represent the pitched roof of a horse stable. Originally, horses were considered as a sacred vehicle of the gods for a long time, and the aristocrats were contributing horses as a gift whenever they made a wish at a shrine. However, most people cannot afford to contribute a horse like the aristocrats. Therefore, the custom of contributing a wooden board with a picture of a horse on it spread among the people in Japan. Nowadays, we write our wishes on a wooden plaque and contribute it to the shrine. This is also where the name 絵馬 (Ema) originates from - 絵 (e) meaning ‘picture’ and 馬 (ma) meaning ‘horse’.

Today, a wide variety of ema designs are available. There are animals, like the face of a fox, or characters from pop culture such as Hello Kitty. Students of the Japanese Club designed their own 絵馬 (Ema) for their first session of 2023. Many students chose to write their wishes in Japanese Kanji and draw Japanese designs- can you recognise some of the characters from these images?

今年もどうぞよろしくお願いします。The Japanese Club looks forward to entertaining you all again this year!