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Ema (絵馬?) are small wooden plaques on which Shinto worshippers write their prayers or wishes. The ema are then left hanging up at the shrine, where the kami (spirits or gods) can read them. They tend to be fairly uniform in size and shape, but many have different pictures painted on them, of animals or other Shinto imagery, and they often have the word negai (願意) or 'Wish' written along the side. Stereotypically, the image on the plaque would be of a horse, uma or ma in Japanese (馬); ema means, literally, "horse picture".　This name originates from the fact that real horses were once offered by the wealthy in exchange for blessings at shrines.
Unlike in most Western traditions, where one prays to revere, praise, and bless God, in Shinto, people tend to ask the kami for a wide variety of things, ranging from world peace down to good scores on the next exam. At some of the more central and popular shrines in Japan (like at this temple in Nikko), one can find ema in many languages, as tourists leave their own wishes and prayers.

By the look of the handwriting, it looks as if someone young may have written this plaque. It literally broke my heart.

*Quoted from Wikipedia*

- see workshop for picture of prayer rack -