Parishioner representatives; members of the local community who took special responsibility for the upkeep or management of a shrine and 'represented' parishioners from whom they collected donations for the upkeep of the shrine and its festivals. The official ujiko-sodai system was abolished by SCAP after 1945 but a similar system continues to operate informally as sodai-kai and through the local 'worshippers associations', sukei-kai and other names.
A Popular Dictionary of Shinto. Brian Bocking.