Passionate otaku have been festooning yet another sacred Shinto site with the iconography of 2D goddesses; this time with ita-ema (votive prayer plaques offered to the gods) of the K-ON! girls, showing us once again that devoted otaku are indeed worthy of that name.
You may be familiar with this otaku practice from pictures of the epicenter of such otaku rituals, Washinomiya Shrine, perhaps better known as the home of the Lucky Star cast.
The main shrine in question is 今宮神社 / Imamiya Shrine, naturally located in Kyoto:
Camera-toting passerby have taken several photos of the hanging ema, apparently gaining in number at the shrine.
The first of these, as well as the image above, apparently come from students of nearby Ryukoku University:
“(I pray) that Yui will enroll in Ryukoku University!!”
“I pray for Mio to become my bride.”
The ema pictured above is somewhat easier to translate.
The frequency of such offerings is said to be increasing, as this recent photograph will attest:
One poster on 2ch brought up the similarity to Washinomiya, which after having become a focal point for Lucky Star fans following such events as the Lucky Star Mikoshi (a portable shrine said to serve as a vehicle of a god) festival now looks to have the majority of its once anime-less ema offerings now appear so:
Another Shinto shrine that has seen a number of its own otaku pilgrimmages is Nagi-sama’s shrine from the Kannagi series.
it will become a SERIOUS religious BUISNESS…
Konata is mai waifu
Nagi-sama is mai waifu
Mio is my waifu
Whats next? lol
Despite the fact that I am a Yui/Azusa fan when it comes to religion itself I can’t tolerate such behavior.Even though I am a japanese myself I can’t do this kind of thing because religion is the most important thing we have and the best we can do is to respect it
GOD IS ANGRY AT THIS! DIE PERVERTS!
Your God doesn’t exit in this cyberworld.
This is money making than a real religion practise. Geez… time to set things straight and not to crash these two different culture.