Shrine Parishioner Registration

[3][4] It is a religious policy that obliged citizens to become parishioners of local shrines (gosha).

[1][2] Previously the status of ujiko was limited to privileged local families, but this system extended it to everyone in the village.

322 "Investigation of parishioners at large and small shrines" (太政官布告第三二二号「大小神社氏子取調」, Daijōkanfukoku dai san ni ni-gō `daishō jinja ujiko torishirabe').

Shrine registration aimed to unite the nation under the worship of Ise deities.

[2] Another set of rules was made at the same time called Regulations for Rural District Shrines.

Some people think that these rules were also supposed to replicate the Danka system which did a similar thing with Buddhist temples.