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Thomas Edison Honored in Shinto Ritual

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Thomas Edison Honored in Shinto Ritual

My friend, and HacDC cohort, Katie Bechtold, whoโ€™s been living in Japan of late, posted this item to her Flickr photostream:

Ema are small wooden plaques on which Shinto worshippers write their prayers or wishes. Thomas Edison used bamboo from the area around this shrine as a filament for his first light bulbs, and nowadays the shrine sells Edison-themed ema (among more standard designs) and maintains an Edison memorial.

The kanji phrase on this ema is the last part of which means โ€˜prayerโ€™ (I donโ€™t know what to make of the first part). Beneath that it is the Edison quote โ€“ โ€œ[genius is] one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.โ€

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Gareth Branwyn is a freelance writer and the former Editorial Director of Maker Media. He is the author or editor of over a dozen books on technology, DIY, and geek culture. He is currently a contributor to Boing Boing, Wink Books, and Wink Fun. His free weekly-ish maker tips newsletter can be found at garstipsandtools.com.

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