At first, due to a ban on Christianity, it aimed at detecting and converting Christians, but its purpose gradually shifted to the policing of the public as the system of Shumon-Ninbetsu-Aratame-Cho (The Village People Register of Religious Faith and Relationship) developed based on the Terauke seido (the system of organizing whole temples in Japan with registration of follower families).
当初は、キリスト教の禁止に伴うキリシタンの摘発および改宗を目的としていたが、寺請制度による宗門人別改帳が整備されてくると、住民調査的な制度となっていった。