{"id":26881,"date":"2022-12-30T15:00:17","date_gmt":"2022-12-30T15:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/?p=26881"},"modified":"2023-05-16T15:11:40","modified_gmt":"2023-05-16T15:11:40","slug":"ema-in-japan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/en\/blog\/ema-in-japan\/","title":{"rendered":"Make a wish at a temple by writing an \u201cema\u201d in Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Have you ever visited a temple or shrine in Japan and seen large amounts of wooden plaques hanging on display at the temple grounds? These wooden plaques, so called <\/span>ema<\/span><\/i> (<\/span>\u7d75\u99ac<\/span>), have a long history and tradition and are used for making a wish at a temple or shrine. <\/span><\/p>\n

Read on if you are interested in knowing more about ema in Japan!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

What is an ema? How do you make a wish with an ema?<\/b><\/h2>\n

An ema in Japan is a wooden plaque used to make a wish at a Shint\u014d shrine in Japan. An ema is shaped like a <\/span>sh\u014dgi<\/span><\/i> (\u5c06\u68cb, Japanese chess) piece and the wood used for making the ema is usually natural pine-based wood, such as spruce, fir, or white pine. <\/span><\/p>\n

On the wooden surface you can write just about any wish as long as it doesn\u2019t harm others. Typical examples of wishes are the fulfillment of <\/span>love, prosperous business, good health<\/b>, and so on. What you typically write also depends on the temple or shrine you are visiting. Different temples\/shrines house different <\/span>kami<\/span><\/i> (\u795e, a celestial shint\u014d deity) and therefore represent different things. Ema are also written and offered to convey gratitude to the kami once a wish has been fulfilled.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>For example, one famous spot for wishing for the fulfillment of love is the shrine <\/span>jishu jinja<\/span><\/i> (\u5730\u4e3b\u795e\u793e). The shrine is located on the temple grounds in one of the most revered temples in Japan, the Kiyomizudera<\/span> (\u6e05\u6c34\u5bfa) temple in Kyoto.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Usually an ema is written personally, much like you make a New Year’s wish for yourself. But there are cases where a group of people like a football team write a common wish together as well. Once the wish is written on the ema, the ema is hung on a rack called <\/span>emagake<\/span><\/i> (\u7d75\u99ac\u639b\u3051), and thus offered to the kami.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Traditionally you make wishes with ema in connection to <\/span>hatsum\u014dde <\/i><\/b>(\u521d\u8a63), the first temple\/shrine visit of the new year.<\/b> But ema can be written at any time you want to make a wish. For example, before the university exams, when a family member is ill, or when you are searching for a job.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>One interesting thing to note is that you don\u2019t \u201cbuy\u201d an ema. Rather, you make an offering in cash for the temple (typically 500-1000yen) and in exchange receive an ema to make a wish to the kami enshrined at the temple or shrine.<\/span><\/p>\n

The history of ema in Japan<\/b><\/h2>\n

The kanji used to write \u201cema\u201d (\u7d75\u99ac) is \u201cpicture\u201d followed by \u201chorse\u201d. And there is a reason for this. Once upon a time it was custom to offer a horse to the kami when making a wish or when your wish had been fulfilled. However, offering a horse every time you make a wish was uneconomical and ever since the middle of the <\/span>Heian period<\/span><\/i> (794-1185) the horses were replaced with plaques of wood that were shaped as horses. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>For a long time, to write and offer an ema to the kami was a privilege reserved for the aristocracy. However, things gradually changed during the <\/span>Muromachi<\/span><\/i> period (1333-1573) and <\/span>Edo<\/span><\/i> period (1603-1868) and it became custom for common people to make wishes with ema as well. At the same time, the ema also came to resemble the shape that we see today.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

What to write on an ema?<\/b><\/h2>\n

There are no rules about what you can and cannot write on an ema (as long as it\u2019s not wishing harm upon someone else). Here are some guidelines you can follow, though!<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>There is actually a grammatical sentence-ending construction specifically for making wishes in Japanese: \u201c\u3007\u3007\u307e\u3059\u3088\u3046\u306b\u3002\u201d (\u3007\u3007<\/span>masuy\u014dni<\/span><\/i>), so making a wish and writing an ema should typically end with this. <\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s see some examples of typical wishes you can make with an ema in Japan.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u4eac\u90fd\u5927\u5b66\u306b\u5408\u683c\u3067\u304d\u307e\u3059\u3088\u3046\u306b\u3002<\/span>
\n<\/span>Kyoto daigaku ni g\u014dkaku dekimasuy\u014dni.<\/span><\/i>
\n<\/span>I wish I can pass (the exam) at Kyoto University<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u5fc3\u304b\u3089\u5927\u597d\u304d\u306a\u4eba\u3068\u4ed8\u304d\u5408\u3048\u3001\u5e78\u305b\u306b\u306a\u308a\u307e\u3059\u3088\u3046\u306b\u3002<\/span>
\n<\/span>Kokoro kara daisuki na hito to tsukiae, shiawase ni narimasuy\u014dni.<\/span><\/i>
\n<\/span>I wish to be happy in a relationship with the one I love from the bottom of my heart.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u304a\u6bcd\u3055\u3093\u304c\u65e9\u304f\u5143\u6c17\u306b\u306a\u308a\u307e\u3059\u3088\u3046\u306b\u3002<\/span>
\n<\/span>Ok\u0101san ga genki ni narimasuy\u014dni.<\/span><\/i>
\n<\/span>I wish for my mother to get well soon.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Sometimes you also write an abridged version instead of a sentence, using four-kanji compound words called <\/span>yojijukugo<\/span><\/i> (\u56db\u5b57\u719f\u8a9e). Some common ones are:<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u7121\u75c5\u606f\u707d (<\/span>muby\u014d-sokusai<\/span><\/i>) – wishing for sound health.<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u5408\u683c\u7948\u9858 (<\/span>g\u014dkaku-kigan<\/span><\/i>) – wishing for passing an exam.<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u5c31\u8077\u7948\u9858 (<\/span>sh\u016bshoku-kigan<\/span><\/i>) – wishing for finding employment.<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u604b\u611b\u6210\u5c31 (<\/span>renai-j\u014dju)<\/span><\/i> – wishing for fullfillment of love<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u5343\u5ba2\u4e07\u6765 (<\/span>senkyaku-banrai<\/span><\/i>) – wishing for roaring business.<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u4e00\u652b\u5343\u91d1 (<\/span>ikkaku-senkin<\/span><\/i>) – wishing for striking it rich.<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u5bb6\u5ead\u5186\u6e80 (<\/span>katei-enman<\/span><\/i>) – wishing for peace within the family.<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u5b89\u7523\u7948\u9858 (<\/span>anzan-kigan<\/span><\/i>) – wishing for easy childbirth.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Next time you have the opportunity to visit a temple or a shrine, we recommend trying to write an ema and making a wish. If you want to challenge yourself, try writing it in Japanese! Who knows, maybe your wish will come true!<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>If you are interested in knowing more about Japanese culture and life in Japan, make sure to follow our <\/span>blog<\/span><\/a>!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you ever visited a temple or shrine in Japan and seen large amounts of wooden plaques hanging on display at the temple grounds? These wooden plaques, so called ema (\u7d75\u99ac), have a long history and tradition and are used for making a wish at a temple or shrine.  Read on if you are interested […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":25659,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[400],"tags":[693,683],"class_list":["post-26881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-japanese-culture","tag-culture","tag-tradition"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}