noun
temple confinement as punishment
Historical practice, common in the late Muromachi and Azuchi-Momoyama periods, where a criminal was placed in the custody of a temple as a form of punishment. Compare with 寺入り (sense 2).
See also: 寺入り
戦国時代には、罪人を寺預けにすることがあった。
During the Sengoku period, criminals were sometimes placed in temple confinement.
寺預けは、一種の自由刑として機能していた。
Temple confinement functioned as a kind of custodial sentence.