"Kansei Choshu Shokafu" (a collection of family trees and brief personal histories of the shogunate officials such as daimyo and hatamoto [bannermen], which was compiled by the shogunate during the Kansei era) indicates that young Nobuyoshi and his older brother Nobutoshi served Nobunaga ODA, for whom they managed to offer meritorious services in the battle against Nagamasa ASAI, but it is more likely that they served Nobunaga after Kenshin UESUGI's death and when the Oda's army thereby invaded Ecchu Province.
『寛政重修諸家譜』には、兄信利と共に早くから織田信長に仕えて浅井長政との戦いに軍功ありと記すが、実際に信長に属したのは上杉謙信死後の織田軍の越中侵攻時のことであろう。