In a way, the bakufu used the temples for their own political agenda. In addition to rooting out Christianity which they felt was a threat to the Tokugawa rule, they were able to monitor the movements of the population through the temples. Thus, the temples served as an influential public symbol that proclaimed the warrior’s authority over the religious sphere of the state. The suppression of the Buddhist temples were a result of the efforts made by the bakufu as they did not want to give undue economic and political power to the temples. They were afraid that with the temples’ rise in power, the Tokugawa family’s power and status would be undermined like during the Muromachi