One morning, Osho (a), the head priest of Kaizoji came
to the main hall of the temple to hold morning service. When he saw the
ema posted up on the wall, he couldn't believe what he saw. The horse had
disappeared from the ema! He called the other priests and pointed
at the empty ema. All of them couldn't believe their eyes and said, "What
happened? Where has the horse gone? Why?"
The head priest thought and answered,"The motif of the picture
is the horse kept by the Lord Nishio Tadatomo. He ordered a famous painter
to paint his wonderful horse. The artist painted it with a lot of soul.
But he died just before finishing his work. He didn't draw ropes which
hitched the horse to its post. After the artist's death the lord offered
the ema of the unhitched horse and as you see, it ran away. " (next)
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