Mendicant ascetics called komoso (literally, "straw mat monk") formed, and subsequently established a connection with Fuke sect of Zen Buddhism (a form of Zen related to the Rinzai sect), becoming the komuso (literally, "monks of empty nothingness").
薦僧と呼ばれる集団がそれで、後に普化宗と結びつき虚無僧となっていく。