Abstract
Buddhist priest, as a general rule, had to live a single life, but in the Shinshu sect marriage is allowed them. Accordingly, temples have tended to be inherited by the sons of priests, and it is difficult to distinguish the social organization of the temple and that of the family. Such individual families very frequently are part of an extended family group. An outstanding example was the “Ikkeshu”, the extended family group of the Honganji, one of the main temples of the Shinshu sect.
