Like the Kai clan of Echizen and the Asakura clan, the Oda clan was a shugodai (deputy military governor) of the Shiba-Buei clan of Sankanrei (three families in the post of kanrei, or shogunal deputy) and had the second rank after the Kai clan.
越前の甲斐氏、朝倉氏と同じく、三管領の斯波武衛家の守護代であり、序列は甲斐氏に次いで二位であった。