During the Sengoku period, when the temple was known as Shōkaku-in (正覚院), it functioned as an important guest house (shukubō / 宿坊) and reception hall for the Oda Danjo-chu family, and Nobunaga’s grandfather, Nobusada.
In 1526 (Daiei 6), the renga poet Sōchō (1448-1532), a renga poet of the late Muromachi period, stayed at Shōkaku-in and recorded the visit in his diary Sōchō Nikki (or Sōchō Shuki). He noted that Oda Nobuhide, Nobunaga’s father came to pay his respect, presented letters, and hosted a renga poetry gathering at the temple that night.
At the time, it was a prosperous complex with multiple subtemples, reflecting its status as a reception facility linked to the Oda family’s local influence, specifically to Nobunaga’s father and grandfather’s generation, complementing other nearby sites like Tsushima Shrine (which Nobunaga revered as a tutelary shrine).
