History and Anime, remembering the Shinsengumi at Mibu-dera, Kyoto

Ema are wooden votive plaques used at Shinto shrines and at some temples: the wishes are written directly on the ema, which is then hung on a special rack, to be "read" by the gods. I love to collect them, especially the ones with unusual shape...

These days, I was visiting Mibu-dera, a small temple from Kyoto related to the history of Shinsengumi, the famous police force of the Bakumatsu period, and to my delight I found here a special ema, shaped like the well-known Shinsengumi haori, with mountain stripes on the sleeves. But there was more to it, because talented fans of the manga, anime and video series Hakuōki are drawing beautiful manga-style characters on them: in the ema from my photo, the drawing from the lower part represents the statue of Kondo Isami, located right inside the temple, while the drawing from the upper part represents Saito Hajime, as it is drawn in the anime series...