In the Edo period, contemporary bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun) instituted as a part of its policy for religions the Terauke seido (the system of organizing whole temples in Japan with registration of follower families) and made it mandatory for every family to become a parishioner of any temple designated as its bodaiji (a family temple).
江戸時代、幕府の宗教政策である寺請制度により、何れかの寺院を菩提寺と定めその檀家になることが義務付けられた。