Pre-modern prayers were more like an agreement with deities in which, for example, a lantern would be offered if a particular prayer were answered as opposed to the modern one-sided form in which ones desires are requested.
因みに、近代以前の祈願とは、例えば「～の願い事を叶えて頂いた暁には、燈籠を奉納します」のように神仏との契約であり、現代のように、願い事を行うだけの一方的な関係ではなかった。