It is said that it started when Risso (monks following Rishu) and the Jishu school promoted it as a Buddhist ritual for the common people in the early medieval period and it took hold in the Edo period when Terauke seido (the system of organizing whole temples in Japan with registration of follower families) was established.
中世前期に律僧や時衆が庶民の仏教典礼として促進したことにはじまり、定着をみたのは、寺請制度のできた江戸時代からと言われている。