Note 222 — Chapter XXXVI
Reading edition
"Small boards with crude designs painted on them. They may be prayers, thank-offerings or protective charms. A shrine where many thanks ema have been left is clearly that of a god ready to hear and answer prayer. Worshippers flock to the place and the accumulation of painted boards—whether prayers or thanks—increases."— Frederick Starr, Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. xlviii.