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| Collection Spotlight A scene that unfolds at Shinto shrines across Japan in the winter months is that of an exhausted-looking student taking an ema (votive plaque) in hand, signing it, and then attaching it to a standing frame already encumbered with scores of similar plaques. These ema carry pleas to the gods for vehicular safety, and in the case of the frantic student, a good score on the all-important university entrance exams. Ema literally means “picture horse” and the typical pentagonal shape of the plaque represents a horse stable. The ema tradition goes back well over 1,000 years in Japan and has its origins in the practice of wealthy patrons donating real or sculpted horses to a temple or shrine in order to obtain the blessings of a deity. Later, worshippers came to offer pictures of horses in exchange for the granting of wishes.
Ema exhibit a fascinating variety of materials and decoration. Older examples were made from luxury woods such as cypress and paulownia, as well as modest materials including pinewood or paper. Subjects featured on ema range from depictions of deities, heroes, animals of the zodiac, to whimsically portrayed creatures and vegetables reflecting everyday concerns. Motifs include an octopus (to cure warts), a sake bottle and lock (to swear off drinking), or two entwined daikon radishes (for happy sexual union). Ema represent the whole gamut of human desires and aspirations. Artists were commissioned to produce square, framed o-ema (large ema) by patrons who signed and donated them for display in temple halls. Ko-ema (small ema) were typically been made by anonymous craftsmen and toy makers who sold them at shops near the temple precincts. Today, commercially made ema tend to be uniform in size and shape and are simply adorned with two Chinese characters that represent the word negai or “wish.” Thanks to the generosity of Dawn Ishimaru Frazier, a long time museum supporter and former trustee, Pacific Asia Museum can now boast an extraordinary collection of ema. Dawn’s donation of over three hundred ema (a bulk of which formerly belonged to noted actor Hans George Conreid, Jr.) last November constitutes an invaluable enhancement of the museum’s collection of Japanese religious and folk art. Selected works will be featured in the upcoming installation tentatively titled Religious Art of Japan to be guest curated by Meher McArthur in the Gallery of Japanese Art. Motoko Shimizu, Curatorial Assistant
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