Alternatively, in order to reduce mouths to feed and give their sons an education, second and third-born sons of an impoverished samurai family were often sold to a Buddhist temple where they worked as 'Tera-Kosho' and took care of the personal needs of Buddhist monks.
また貧しい武家の次男・三男は、口減らしと学問習得などの理由で寺に売られるなどして、「寺小姓」として僧侶の身の回りの世話などをした。