These priests were called "nenbutsu hijiri" ("nenbutsu" [Buddhist invocation] chanting priests), and they led a semi-secular life; that is, an ascetic life while living in a thatched hut far up on a mountain - not in a temple - or going on a pilgrimage.
彼らは念仏聖と呼ばれ、寺院に定住せず深山の草庵に住んだり遍歴しながら修行する半僧半俗の存在だった。