The Drawn and Quartered Horse

Meiwaku!! abare ema (迷惑!! あばれ絵馬) is the 352nd chapter of the manga it is also the first and only chapter of the Horse Prayer Tablet Arc.

Ranma, Akane and Hinako head to a local temple where the charms students have placed for good luck in their scholastic future are being destroyed. There they meet Ukyo, who is filling in for the who ran off when the trouble began. Soon the priest shows everyone the charms that are being destroyed, which show a crudely drawn horse on them.

Temporary Mikos
Ranma and Akane are walking with Hinako to the local temple. Whilst they walk, Hinako explains that there's been someone destroying the the students offer which students offer when taking their school entrance exams. She then says (whilst stuffing her face of food) that it's her job as a teacher to stop it, Ranma just replies "yeah, yeah" and tells Hinako to just stop talking with her mouth full.

When the trio arrive they're greeted by Ukyo, who's dressed as a and sweeping up more broken Ema charms. The group then go to see the Shinto's Priest, who explains that soon people will be making their first visits to the temple of New Year, but with all these incidents all the Mikos have been scared away and at this rate his Shinto shrine will close. Ranma, meanwhile, wonders just who would do a thing like this.

A little later, Akane, Ukyo and Ranma (who's turned into his female form) are dressed as Mikos and have set up a large number of false Emas to try and lure out the culprit. Ranma then notices that all the charms have a rather crudely drawn horse on them. Hinako and the Priest appear and the Priest tells Ranma to stop embarrassing him, but Ranma notes that she wasn't exactly giving praise either...

The Priest then explains that at the shrine he raises a very sacred and divine horse by the name "Pure success", or Shussemaru for short. Akane is surprised that the horse is real, but Ranma and Ukyo can't over how awful the drawing is. The Priest then proceeds to give them his autograph, which includes a very well drawn self-portrait. As Akane and Ukyo admire the Priest's artistic talent, Ranma deduces that this horse must look like he does on the charms.

Meeting the Ema Destroyer
At that moment, Shussemaru appears and sure enough looks exactly like he does on the charms. After destroying the false Emas, Shussemaru trots off, leaving Ranma and Akane in completely silence. Akane and Ranma then both note that the picture was a very realistic one, much to Priest's embarrassment. Hinako quickly declares that there's no time to be standing around and chases after Shussemaru, but gets distracted by a nearby dumpling stand.

Just then a a young couple arrive to give their Ema charm so that they can go to same college together. Angered by his portrait, Shussemaru kicks the male holding the charm into the air before destroying the charm. Ranma then hits Shussemaru with a mallet, but gets hit in the face by Shussemaru's hoof. After a quick moment's contemplation, Ranma throws some over Shussemaru and begins to drive him away from the Ema charms.

Meanwhile, visitors begin flooding into the shrine asking for Ema charms. Back with Ranma, and she decides that a "sacred" horse is just another dumb animal. However, Ranma is soon proved wrong, when Shussemaru runs under a tree with a low-hanging branch and knocks Ranma off. Shussemaru then runs over to the Emas, causing Ukyo and Akane to try and protect them, however, they both quickly give up when Shussemaru begins to sneeze and they flee from the mucus that flies towards them.

Shussemaru then proceeds to destroy the Ema charms. With tears running down his face, the Priest tells Shussemaru that he drew him perfectly and they look just like him. As the Priest gets hit with Shussemaru's hoof, Akane tells the Priest that that's the problem. Akane and Ukyo suggest that they draw Shussemaru more attractively, an idea which Shussemaru seems to be in agreement with.

Pleasing Shussemaru
Hinako returns to see the girls drawing Shussemaru. She looks at Ranma's drawing first, but confuses Ranma's attempt at drawing Shussemaru with a and the unimpressed Shussemaru hits Ranma with his hoof. Shussemaru then looks at Akane's attempt, which is even worse than Ranma's, but he can't bring himself to hit Akane, much to Ranma's frustration.

Ukyo then reveals her very impressive attempt (which Ranma puts down to Ukyo's cooking skill), however, Shussemaru isn't satisfied with it and draws what he believes he looks like to the others. The group is very impressed with Shussemaru skills, but it doesn't look very realistic any more. Hinako then childishly scribbles on Shussemaru's self-portrait and the group are subsequently chased by the angered horse.

After running away from Shussemaru for a short while, Hinako uses her Happo Five-Yen Satsu to absorb Shussemaru's chi. After Hinako gloats about how dangerous the situation was, Ranma reminds her that it was her fault that they ended up in it. Akane then reminds the group that it doesn't solve the problem, as so long as Shussemaru in on the Ema charms, he'll keep coming back and destroying them... The Priest then comes up with a suggestion and draws a slightly less sacred Wild Boar on an Ema charm.

Once they look at the crudely drawn Boar, Ranma puts two-and-two together and rhetorically asks the Priest if he's also raised a sacred Boar at the shrine. The Priest replies that he has and it's called "perfect", or Mantenmaru for short. As Mantenmaru angrily sits behind the Priest, Akane and Ukyo decides they've had enough and head back home.

Cast in Order of Appearance

 * Akane Tendo
 * Ranma Saotome (male)
 * Hinako Ninomiya (younger)
 * Ukyo Kuonji
 * Ranma Saotome (female)
 * Shussemaru (debut)
 * Shinto Priest (debut)
 * Fugu and Uni (debut)
 * Hinako Ninomiya (older)
 * Mantenmaru (debut)

Trivia

 * The English title for this chapter is a pun on the traditional English penalty of being.
 * Ranma is depicted holding a on the title page, which is typically used by a shrine priest or miko in various Shinto rituals.
 * are the wooden signs that are hung from trees in temples. They are traditionally taken down and burned to offer their prayers and wishes to the heavens.
 * The girls' temporary role as mikos is a possible nod to Sakura, a miko in Rumiko Takahashi's prior manga, Urusei Yatsura.
 * The names of the two people who offer up an ema, Fugu and Uni, are named after and, respectively.
 * The chapter reveals that Ukyo has decent artistic talent, Ranma is so-so, and Akane has nearly none. This ties in with Ranma's comment about a chef being an artist and is another reflection of how their cooking skills stack up against each other.