Ichijo-in, which is the head of several sub temples, was originally a sekke-monzeki (temple headed by members of the sekke, the line of regents and advisers) where members of the Konoe Clan (the Konoe family and the Takatsukasa family) worked, but in the early Edo Period it became a miya-monzeki, a temple headed by imperial princes (at the end of the Edo Period members of the Konoe family became monzeki again).
塔頭の筆頭である一乗院は、はじめ近衛家流（近衛家と鷹司家）の子弟が門主をつとめる摂家門跡であったが、江戸初期以降は皇族が門主をつとめる宮門跡となった（幕末には再び近衛家の子弟が門跡となる）。