Filling out Determinations and Prayer Boards (Ema)
Sangha members fill out determinations which are put into an envelope and kept on the temple altar. They will be mailed to everyone in July as a reminder of what each person determined to do on the first of the year. Also people wrote a wish or prayer on the back of special wooden prayer boards that had an image of an ox on the front. These boards were then hung outside in front of the temple as an offering for the fulfillment of the prayer.
