Japanese Ema-Making at Hush Hush Festival

Thinga Celebrates Japanese Culture at Hush Hush Music Festival

We had a wonderful opportunity to go to the Hush Hush Music Bash this year, and had a great time participating along side many others with a cool craft. At the time, we were just putting the finishing touches on one of our Thinga Boom issues about traditional Japan, so we decided to take some inspiration from one of the great articles: Wooden Japanese Wish plaques, or Ema.

The kids were given some basic instructions and with very little effort, they were on their way. Usually they wrote their wish or haiku on one side, and then got busy drawing or painting on the other.

The best part, of course, is jumping in and making an ema for yourself. Some kids went CRAZY and came up with some really cool designs. At the end, the kids hung them up on the ema tree. We told the kids and parents at the festival that we would post images of their ema online, so in all their awesomeness, here they are! Which one's your favorite?

If you subscribe to Thinga Boom, we've got some instructions on how to make your very own.

"I wish.... that the world would have more peace"

"I want to have my head gear off in a month"

"I wish for more flowers in the world"

"I wish I was an astronaut"

"I wish for a lot of money"

"I love you. I wish for fall"

"Cat and animals"

"I ❤ you"

"I wish that people will be happy."

"I wish that cat-bird-fish was rill"

"Haikus are easy.
But sometimes they make no sense.
Refrigerator."

"My wish is for color"

"I wish for a present"

"I wish that I had a lot of money"

"I wish for beautiful gardens"

"I love the weather and I wish that it continues throughout the year!"

"I wish that everyone was kind"

I looked over and asked the young 6 year old (roughly) what she was drawing...
"I'm not drawing anything in particular — these marks are just expressions of my insides"