Birthplace of Ema

　Ema are wooden plaques on which people write their wishes and dedicate them to a shrine.

　In the past, people would offer live horses—which were regarded as the deities’ mounts—to pray for rain or for the rain to stop; however, these were eventually replaced by horse figurines or wooden plaques painted with images of horses. Although they are traditionally offered at shrines, as they are small wooden items, an increasing number of foreign tourists are purchasing them as souvenirs.

　Kifune Shrine is considered to be the birthplace of these ema. Within the shrine grounds stand statues of a white horse and a black horse; it is said that the black horse was offered to pray for rain, whilst the white or red horse was offered to pray for the rain to stop. However, as this was a labour-intensive practice, people began to offer ‘Itadate-uma’—wooden boards painted with images of horses—and it is said that this became the prototype for the ema.

　As shrines offer a wide variety of ema, they may well become as popular with foreign visitors as goshuin stamps.