Japanese Page

There are various ideas and theories about the origin of "ema". In Japanese, the "e" in "ema" means picture, and the "ma" means horse, and since there are many "ema" depicting horses, one idea is that people first offered horses to the Shinto gods because of their strength, but later offered "ema" as a substitute. However, there are but a few "ema" depicting horses, so this idea is not valid. Anyway, there are many unknowns about the origin of "ema".

"Ema" that were left at Kameido Tenjin Shrine by those praying for success in examinations.