Politeness of 何をお願いしましたか I've learned that is humble language, for example > However, when asking others what they wished for, I see the question: > Background: Li and Ono went to and made wishes at Obviously, the subject is , so it cannot be humble language. Then how to understand the sentence. Is that because everyone is humble before gods?

, , and so on are humble expressions, but is not humble, even though it looks similar!

This is more or less a fixed noun/suru-verb meaning "(to make) a request". is just "to hope" without an explicit target person. There are similar fixed nouns with fixed meanings in the form of ` + stem` (, , , , , ...). is a noun that means "wish (e.g., to god)", but it's a relatively stiff and solemn word used mainly in writings. We never say without regardless of keigo.

Therefore, is not humble nor honorific; it has at least polite , but nothing more. Unless Ono is Li's boss, using is good enough. The honorific version is or . The humble version of is , and you should not say to someone (you know why).

(` + stem + ` has an honorific meaning (eg , ), but sounds unnatural to me. means (internally) wishing something, and it may not play well with honorifics.)