Small objects, large role
Many visitors to Japanese shrines and temples leave with a small brocade pouch or hang a wooden board on a rack. These are omamori (protective charms) and ema (votive plaques). Neither requires special knowledge or membership, and both are part of what is often called popular or folk religion: the everyday practices through which many people relate to sacred places without necessarily following formal doctrine.
The practices are shared by shrines and temples alike, a reminder of how thoroughly Shinto and Buddhist habits have long mixed. Details differ among sites, and the explanations below are general.
Omamori
An omamori is a small charm, typically a flat cloth pouch about the size of a matchbox or a bit larger, with a cord and the name of the shrine or temple stitched or printed on it. Inside is traditionally a thin piece of wood or paper bearing a sacred inscription. The pouch is generally not opened. Many people explain that opening it is thought to weaken its power, and in any case the contents are not meant to be seen.
Charms are usually made for a specific purpose, and the same shrine may offer a range:
- safe travel and traffic safety
- success in exams and studies
- good health and recovery from illness
- safe childbirth and children’s growth
- good luck in business or work
- good relationships and family harmony
Some are shaped for a bag or a car, and designs vary from classic cloth to charms with modern prints. Each place generally sells those linked to its own deity or Buddha, so a shrine known for learning will emphasize study charms. Rather than being a purchase in the ordinary sense, a charm is usually described as something one is “received” (ukeru), and the money given is referred to as a gift or offering.
Care and renewal
Common advice is to keep the charm with you or in a place associated with its purpose, and to treat it respectfully. Many people replace their charm after a year. The old one is returned to a shrine or temple, often to a collection box near the entrance, and later ritually burned or otherwise respectfully disposed of at a seasonal ceremony. Because several charms from different places are not usually considered a problem, many people carry more than one. Views differ here, and a local priest is the best source if you want a firm answer.
Ema
Ema literally means “picture horse.” The name points to an early custom of offering living horses to the gods, which were valued animals. Horses could be linked with prayers for rain or good weather in some traditions, and they were also associated with the sacred. Since keeping and giving a real horse was expensive, wooden or clay horses and painted images came to stand in. By the time of the Heian court, painted boards were in use, and over later centuries the plaques spread to ordinary people and took on many different pictures.
Today an ema is a small wooden board, often pentagon-shaped like a house with a roof, with a picture on the front and blank space on the back. The picture may be a horse, the zodiac animal of the year, or an image tied to the shrine. Visitors write a wish, a thanks or a prayer on the back, often adding their name, and hang it on a rack at the shrine. Wishes range from passing an exam to recovering from illness to the happiness of a family.
What is on the racks
Reading a rack is a way of seeing what ordinary people hope for. Many ema are written in several languages at popular sites. Messages tend to be short and personal. Some are expressions of gratitude after a wish has come true, which is an old pattern in Japanese devotion: people thank as well as ask. At the end of a period, plaques are collected and ritually burned or disposed of by the shrine.
Related offerings
Charms and ema are part of a wider family of paper and wood items. Fortune slips (omikuji) are drawn at many sites, and a poor result is often tied to a rack or branch on the grounds. The customs around the New Year are especially busy, when many people visit to renew charms and receive a new one, linking these objects to New Year customs and to the yearly calendar. Large wooden boards may also be displayed for notable occasions, and at some festivals arrow-shaped lucky charms are given out.
Seasonal rites for children often include a visit to a shrine for a blessing, and families may also buy a charm at that time, as part of the pattern of seasonal rites in a child’s life.
How people think about them
People hold varied views. Some believe strongly that a charm protects them. Others see it as a gesture of care, a reminder of a wish, or a custom they follow because their family does. Neither attitude is thought to be wrong, and many people would say it is the intention that matters. Outcomes of prayers are, of course, uncertain, and the objects are not generally presented as guarantees.
Notes for visitors
Charms and plaques are available to anyone, including visitors from abroad. Sales are usually at a counter or office within the grounds. Prices are posted, and writing materials are often provided. It is courteous to write thoughtfully, to avoid joking or offensive content, and to leave the racks as you found them. Because customs differ, check posted instructions on how to return old items.