Ema - Ema

Japanese: 絵馬 - えま

These are pictures that are offered to deified objects such as shrines and roadside guardians as a means of prayer or gratitude. Originally, they were pictures of horses, but from the Middle Ages onwards, various themes have appeared. The custom of offering live horses to gods began with offering clay horses, horse-shaped horses, and wooden horses instead of horses, and eventually people started offering painted horses. The first example of this is the article on "Three Colored Paper Ema" in Honcho Bunsui (1012), and the words "wooden ema" can also be found in Konjaku Monogatari. Scenes of votive ema offerings can be seen in medieval picture scrolls, which show that offerings to Buddhist temples began around this time, and individual offerings also began to be made, leading to changes and developments in the purpose, subject and subject of votive ema offerings. Since the original purpose was to make prayers, many votive ema were painted with human eyes, hands, feet, etc. in addition to horses and cattle, to pray for safe childbirth and recovery from illness, or to express gratitude. Among the relics are ancient votive plaques from Akishino-dera Temple from the Oei period (1394-1428), votive plaques from Gokurakubo Temple at Gangoji Temple, the Tokondo Hall of Kofuku-ji Temple, and Ishikawa Daichino Shrine from the Choroku period (1457-60), and from around this time, works by professional artists, large votive plaques, and votive plaque halls began to appear.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

社寺や道祖神などの神格化された対象に，祈願や感謝の目的で納める絵。元来は馬の絵をかいたが中世以降は種々雑多な画題が登場した。生き馬を神に献じる風習が，馬に代えて土馬，馬形，板立馬などを納めるようになり，やがて絵の馬を奉納したことに起源がある。その初例は『本朝文粋』 (1012) の「色紙絵馬三匹」の記事で，『今昔物語』にも板絵馬の言葉がみえる。中世の絵巻に絵馬奉納の情景がみられ，それによるとこの頃から仏教寺院への奉納が起り，個人的奉納も行われるようになって，絵馬奉納の目的，対象，画題に変化を生じ，発展した。もともと祈願が目的であったため，牛馬以外に人間の目，手，足などを描いて安産や病気快癒を祈ったり，報謝したものが多い。遺品としては秋篠寺の応永年間 (1394～1428) の絵馬，元興寺極楽坊，興福寺東金堂，石川大地主神社の長禄年間 (1457～60) の絵馬などが古く，この頃から専門画家の執筆するもの，大型の絵馬，絵馬堂などがみられるようになった。

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