Funakoshi Kagenao served as a bushō from the Sengoku to the early Edo periods.  Kagenao served as a hatamoto or retainer of the Edo bakufu.  His father was Funakoshi 景綸.

The Funakoshi clan descended from the Fujiwara clan and were kokujin, or provincial landowners, in Awaji Province.  From the Kamakura period until the Sengoku period, the clan governed Shōda in the village of Shito-ori in the Mihara District of Awaji.  In the Muromachi period, the Funakoshi were active as servants of the Hosokawa clan.

As the first lord of Awaji-Shōda Castle, Kagenao served in the navy of Atagi Fuyuyasu, the younger brother of Miyoshi Nagayoshi, a senior retainer of the Hosokawa.  Thereafter, owing to the destruction of the Miyoshi clan, Kagenao served Oda Nobunaga.  In 1581, after Hashiba Hideyoshi attacked Awaji, Kagenao received recognition of his rights to this landholdings.  After the Honnō Temple Incident, a coup d’état that led to the death of Oda Nobunaga, Kagenao served as a direct retainer of Hideyoshi, participating in the Battle of Shizugatake and the Battle of Komaki-Nagakute.  Later, Kagenao was moved from Awaji Province to the Akashi District in Harima Province.  He managed a fief of 4,000 koku and led units of soldiers wielding the bow and arrow as well as infantry with arquebuses.  As a retainer of Hideyoshi, Kagenao joined in the Conquest of Odawara and the Bunroku Expedition on the Korean Peninsula.

In 1595, owing to his involvement in the Hidetsugu Incident, Kagenao elicited the anger of Hideyoshi and was assigned to Nanbu Nobunao in Mutsu Province.  Following the demise of Hideyoshi, upon request of Tokugawa Hideyoshi, Kagenao was granted territory in Settsu and Kawachi provinces and reclaimed his position.  At the Battle of Sekigahara, Kagenao served in the Eastern Army.  For his contributions, Kagenao received an increase of 1,500 koku to his territory in the Uchi District of Yamato Province.  Accordingly, he ranked among the hatamato of the Edo bakufu governing territory of approximately 6,000 koku.  The next year, Kagenao, along with Horio Yoshiharu, Inoko Kazutoki and Ōshima Mitsuyoshi were invited by Ieyasu to share their stories regarding the Battle of Sekigahara.

Kagenao died in 1611 at the age of seventy-two.  Kagenao was known, along with his son, Nagakage, as students of the tea ceremony, studying under Furuta Shigenari and Kobori Masakazu.