After Shinran's sozo (founder's statue) was enshrined at Kensho-ji Temple, Junnyo started negotiating as a chief priest with the Imperial Palace and the bakufu in order to control believers (of the Jodo Shinshu Sect of Buddhism) in Kinai (the provinces surrounding Kyoto and Nara), as a chief priest to become the representative of his father, Rennyo, who had left Kinai for the propagation of the Hokuriku region.
親鸞の祖像はひとまず同寺に安置され、順如は住持として北陸布教のために畿内を離れた父・蓮如の名代として畿内門徒の統率と朝廷・幕府との交渉にあたった。