12:26pm:
My ema:
“Thank you for all of my many blessings. Please continue to share the beauty of the world with me and share these blessings with all.”
Ema are votive pictures on paper or wood upon which a personal request has been written. It is offered to a buddha or bodhisattva (I picked the big golden buddha in the middle) then hung on a rack at either end of the hall. There is a strong scent of incense in this temple – I just found a sign which says it is called “YakushiKoh.” I’m feeling very blessed for the time I had in here on my own, to write out my ema and offer it to Buddha. Just a moment after, as I hung my ema on the rack, an older western couple came in, and then a young western man. While I was writing my ema a couple that looked reasonably local offered their prayers.