It is not surprising that many military figures rest at Oku-no-in despite having led thousands of soldiers into death in battle and having caused the slaughter of countless innocent civilians. Nor is it all that inconceivable that former archenemies might find themselves virtually next to one another as they await salvation.

But it is rather surprising that some of the people enshrined here include those who once held siege to Mt. Kōya with the threat of razing it to the ground.

As part of his ruthless campaign to unite Japan in the 16th century, Oda Nobunaga (1534 -1582) orchestrated a brutal and unsparing attack on the Tendai monastic settlement of Enryaku-ji, killing thousands of priests, men woman and children. In his continuing effort to eliminate other institutions that could threaten his control of the country, he turned to another Buddhist sect, the Jōdōshū (or Pure Land) School with an assault on Hongan-ji temple in Kyoto.

Beginning in the spring of 1580 and escalating in the autumn of 1581, Nobunaga made several attempts to subjugate the Shingon priests of Mt. Kōya, who at the time, controlled vast estates throughout the region. An unsuccessful attack in October 1581 subsided into a siege which lasted throughout the winter. The warrior priests of Mt. Kōya and allies from their proprietary estates acquitted themselves well in the battle to defend the holy mountain, but it is unclear whether they would have survived a prolonged siege and a larger, subsequent assault.

As things turned out, Nobunaga's interest in Mt. Kōya was eclipsed by other serious concerns. By the summer of 1582, he would be dead, killed by one of his former generals, Akechi Mitsuhide (who now also rests here at Oku-no-in).

Oda's monument at Oku-no-in is a gorintō located slightly above the path on the left just a few meters before the Gobyō-bashi bridge.