In January and February of 1858, he was exchanging letters with Sanai HASHIMOTO and Unpin UMEDA, and he exchanged information about the visiting of Yukie NAKANE, and, in March, he went to Kyoto with a letter from the Shogun's legal wife to Tadahiro KONOE, and tried to obtain issuance of an secret Imperial command of Yoshinobu's heir using the support of the priest Gessho, but he failed to receive it.
安政5年（1858年）1、2月、橋本左内・梅田雲浜らと書簡を交わし、中根雪江が来訪するなど情報交換し、3月には将軍正室から近衛忠煕への書簡を携えて京都に赴き、僧月照らの協力で慶喜継嗣のための内勅降下をはかったが失敗した。