Ranmaru and his younger brothers defended Oda Nobunaga during the Honnō-ji Incident and allowed him to commit seppuku.

[2] Ranmaru has often been the subject of works of art since the Edo period, and continues to be seen in various forms of modern fictional media today.

Due to admiration for his loyalty, Ranmaru has been depicted as a loyal page of Nobunaga in various works of classical Japanese art.

Such portrayals are in historical drama films and television programs such as Akira Kurosawa's Kagemusha and various Taiga dramas, in novels such as Eiji Yoshikawa's Taiko, in manga such as Hyouge Mono and A Chef of Nobunaga, and in video games such as Samurai Warriors, Sengoku Basara, Onimusha 3: Demon Siege and Pokémon Conquest.

Ranmaru also appears as a minor character in the anime Mirage of Blaze based on the novel series of the name.