Kunohe Nobunaka served as a bushō during the Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods.  His common name was Ukyō.

The Konohe were an illegitimate branch of the Nanbu clan.  Nobunaka was born as the son of Kunohe Nobuzane and the father of five children.

Nobunaka resided in the daimyō mansion at the Hōchōzan-Chōkō Temple in Ōaza in the village of Kunohe in the Kunohe District of Mutsu Province.  In 1504, Nobunaka built the Chōkō Temple (affiliated with the Sōtō school of Zen Buddhism) to serve as the family temple of the Kunohe clan.  The temple was founded by Daiin-Keizen, the high priest of the Sōtoku Temple of Kaga Province.  Branch temples in the Kunohe District included the Chōtoku Temple in Esashika and the Entsū Temple in Ibonai.

Around 1569, his eldest son, Kunohe Masazane, moved their base to Kunohe Castle in Ninohe-Fukuoka.  In his era, however, the Kunohe clan was decimated.

In 1591, during the Revolt of Kunohe Masazane, the fourth-generation high priest named Satten is known for having assisted in negotiations for the surrender of the rebel forces at Kunohe Castle.

In 1693, the temple was burned down by a fire in the surrounding mountains.  The main hall was reconstructed in 1852.