日本語Votive paintings and Auspicious paintings
There are two kinds of Votive paintings. One is the pentagonal Ema paintings of the Shinto tradition and the other is the lotus petal shaped Sange of Buddhism.
One can write a wish on the back of an Ema tablet, and it is believed that the arrow shape of the pentagon would deliver the wish to heaven.
The Buddhist Sange originates from the belief that when the Buddha was born, flowers showered down from heaven. Since that time, people strew flower petals to express great joy. But it was out of concern for the flowers that they stopped that practice, and instead, cut petal shapes out of paper. It wasn’t until about one thousand years ago that they thought that it might be nice to paint on the paper and the Sange was born.
Both Sange and Ema were printed in great quantities, and thrown into the crowds as part of a ceremony or sold at temples or shrines for good luck.
Auspicious paintings were popular until about 150 years ago, They generally appeared to be ordinary paintings which actually had a hidden meaning only the owner would know. The painting would contain a play on words or symbolic meaning which would bring good luck. Many Sange and Ema were also auspicious paintings.