Oshimachi - Oshimachi

...In the case of shrines, it is also called torii-mae-cho. Other examples include temple towns called jinai-cho, sha-ke-cho, and oshi-cho, where temple and shrine workers and believers formed settlements in front of the temple gates, and together they can be called temple towns in the broad sense. Representative temple towns include Ise (Ujiyamada) City (Yamada) in front of the torii gates of Ise Shrine, Nagano City with Zenkoji Temple, Narita City in Chiba Prefecture in front of the Shinshoji Temple gates of Narita Fudo, Nikko City in Tochigi Prefecture with Toshogu Shrine, Kotohira in Kagawa Prefecture with Kotohira Shrine, Miyajima with Itsukushima Shrine, Taisha in Shimane Prefecture (Kitsuki) where Izumo Taisha Shrine is located, Koya in Wakayama Prefecture in front of the Koyasan gates, and Tenri City with the head temple of Tenrikyo, a modern religious city.

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

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…神社の場合は鳥居前町ともいう。ほかに，社寺奉仕者や信仰者が門前に集落を形成した寺内（じない）町や社家（しやけ）町および御師（おし）町があり，それらを合わせて広義の門前町といえる。伊勢神宮鳥居前の伊勢(宇治山田)市(山田)，善光寺の長野市，成田不動の新勝寺門前の千葉県成田市，東照宮の栃木県日光市，金刀比羅宮（ことひらぐう）のある香川県の琴平，厳島神社の宮島，出雲大社の鎮座する島根県の大社(杵築（きづき）)，高野山門前の和歌山県の高野，近代の宗教都市である天理教本山の天理市などが代表的門前町である。…

※「御師町」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