On a recent visit to Chichibu Shrine, I was surprised to find a few ema (wooden prayer plaques) decorated with colorful anime characters. While it’s common for ema to be decorated with pictures of animals significant to the Shinto religion (most typically horses), anime ema are a little out of the ordinary, so I decided to do some digging.

The ema pictured above are the work of blogger Sugar and Salt, who has been doing a pilgrimage of the country’s shrines since November 2009 with the aim of putting up 108 anime-themed ema. But Sugar and Salt is not alone in his/her quest. Just last week on July 7, armies of otaku converged at an unremarkable shrine in Washinomiya, Saitama, to put up "Lucky Star" ema which were for sale, one day only, at Washinomiya Station. The shrine was a setting for the popular anime and since 2007 on the occasion of the "Lucky Star" twins’ birthday votive plaques have been a big tourist draw. Sugar and Salt was reportedly there him/herself to pick up one of the limited-edition plaques.

Another attraction for anime fans is Kitano-Tenmangu in Kyoto, which was visited by the girl-band cartoon sensation K-On! during an episode depicting a school trip. It’s typical for ema to be inscribed with personal wishes and most of the K-On! plaques are drawn by budding musicians who are hoping to improve their skills on the guitar.