The countless small wooden tablets swaying at a shrine's ema rack carry prayers in brushwork — exam success, good marriage, recovery from illness. Ema trace back to the ancient ritual of offering live horses, which ordinary people gradually replaced with horses painted on boards. Originating at Kifune Shrine in Kyoto, the custom developed into large votive paintings in the Nara and Heian periods and spread nationwide alongside Tenjin worship in the Edo era.

The moss-covered oval stones sitting quietly in shrine corners are chikaraishi — lifting stones where Edo-period young men and dock workers competed in feats of strength. Approximately 14,000 survive nationwide, with 350 designated cultural properties. From the 600+ kg 'great disc stone' lifted by Sannomiya Unosuke to the 46-kan stone at Kushida Shrine in Hakata, each inscription of weight and name is a direct record of Edo commoner physical culture.