When something happened that did not agree with Enryaku-ji Temple, the monk warriors would pick up their portable shrine (Buddhism and Shinto were mixed up at the time, so god and Buddha were the same) and go to protest, thereby forcing their position on the powerful figures of the time.
延暦寺は自らの意に沿わぬことが起こると、僧兵たちが神輿（当時は神仏混交であり、神と仏は同一であった）をかついで強訴するという手段で、時の権力者に対し自らの言い分を通していた。