Ujibito-shu

…Furthermore, as villages and villages developed in and around Kinai from the Kamakura to the Muromachi period, the names of ujinin were also used for the groups of worshippers and believers at shrines and temples. Because this name symbolized the authority of the ancient clan, privileged groups of worshippers called ujininshu continued to exist throughout the Middle Ages at shrines such as Ise, Kamo, Kasuga, Sumiyoshi, and Taga. Initially, ujiko meant the children of a certain family, but it began to be used interchangeably with ujinin in documents of the priests of Ise Shrine in the 13th and 14th centuries, and eventually in local documents of villages and shrines in Kinai, ujinin came to mean the group of worshippers of the ujigami, and ujiko came to mean those who received the protection of the ujigami. …

*Some of the terminology that refers to "Ushihitoshu" is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…さらに鎌倉期から室町期にかけて畿内とその周辺に郷村が発達すると，そこでの社寺の祭祀団，信徒団にも氏人の名を用いた。この名が古代氏族の権威を象徴するところから，伊勢，賀茂，春日，住吉，多賀などの諸社には〈氏人衆〉と称する特権的な祭祀団が中世を通じて存続した。〈氏子〉は当初，某家の子女の意味であったが，13～14世紀の伊勢神宮の神職文書に氏人と混用されて散見するようになり，やがて畿内郷村の地方文書や神社文書には，氏人を氏神祭祀団の意味に，氏子を氏神の加護を受ける者の意味に用いている。…

※「氏人衆」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報