[1] She was the founding abbess of Tōkei-ji temple in Kamakura, noted for its long history as a refuge for women seeking divorce from their husbands.

[5] In 1274 and in 1281, Tokimune successfully repelled the Mongol invasions of Japan,[1] but at considerable cost to the Kamakura shogunate, both financially and politically.

[2] Both Lady Horiuchi and Hōjō Tokimune studied the practice of Zen Buddhism, including meditation, under Mugaku Sogen (1226–1286),[6] who emigrated from Song dynasty China and became the founding abbott of Engaku-ji.

[2] Mugaku composed several verses in Chinese to commemorate the occasion of their conversion, including "Shidō Daishi [i.e., Kakusan] Takes the Tonsure".

[2] Under the influence of his advisor Taira no Yoritsuna, many members of the Adachi clan, including Kakusan's brother and former guardian Yasumori,[5][8] were assassinated in what came to be called the Shimotsuki ("Eleventh Month") incident.

[7] Other historians have pointed to the short story, Karaito-zōshi, which depicts Tōkei-ji as a sanctuary, as evidence that it had already developed a reputation as a safe haven for women as early as the Muromachi period.

[10] Recent historians including Sachiko Kaneko Morrell and Robert E. Morell have suggested that Kakusan-ni's interest in providing sanctuary to others was likely influenced by the fact that so many members of her own family were killed or forced into exile following the Shimotsuki incident.

[2] In 1545, the Rinzai monk Muin Hōjō published a compilation of Kamakura Zen kōan, called Word Weeds in Southern Sagami Province.

[2] According to the kōan, in 1304, Shidō was conferred the inka or "seal of succession" as a Zen Buddhist master, by Tōkei, the fourth abbott of Engaku-ji.

[2][3] A master of novices who opposed her confirmation challenged her by asking, "In our lineage, anyone receiving transmission must expound on the Discourses of Lin-chi (Rinzai-roku).

Monogoto ni Kokoro tomoneba Kumori nashi Migaku to iu mo Mayoi narikeri Since not a thing Takes lodging in the mind It is untainted; To speak of polishing Is itself illusion.