In 1602, Tokugawa Ieyasu donated land at Karasuma Shichijo to Kyonyo to split the Honganji institution, establishing Higashi Honganji. As the head temple of Shinshu Otani-ha, the Goei-do enshrines Shinran's portrait statue. The Goei-do is one of the world's largest wooden buildings; during reconstruction, female devotees donated their hair to weave into ropes (ke-zuna) used in hauling timbers — a testament to the profound faith of Shinran's followers.

In 1602, Kyonyo received a grant of land at Karasuma-Shichijo from Tokugawa Ieyasu and founded Higashi Honganji. When his father Kennyo accepted the 1580 peace with Oda Nobunaga ending the Ishiyama War, Kyonyo insisted on continued resistance, leading to a formal break with his father; under the Toyotomi regime he remained a marginalized hardliner. After Sekigahara, Ieyasu granted him a new head temple to split the Honganji institution — a move that also vindicated the lifelong conviction of this man who had refused to make peace. By establishing Higashi Honganji as the hardline Honganji, Kyonyo split the institution in two and laid the foundation of the present-day Shinshu Otani-ha.