Saionji himself never stated his reasons for doing so clearly, but it is said that because he was the head of the elite Saionji family, if he were to marry, his wife would have to have been a princess from the Imperial family, a court noble, or from a major daimyo family, and Saionji, being a liberalist, disliked such constraints.
はっきりした理由は西園寺自身述べていないが、名門西園寺家の当主であった彼は、娶るならば皇族、公家、大名家などの姫でなければならず、自由人であった西園寺がこうしたしがらみを嫌ったためとも言われている。