Kuniyoshi allegedly joined the rank of gokenin (immediate vassals of the shogunate during the Kamakura, Muromachi and Edo periods) while he inherited the soryo (fief) of the Nose clan from his father and attended the Imperial Court as a samurai.
父より能勢氏の惣領を継承し京武者として朝廷に出仕する一方、御家人の列にも加わったとされる。