Standing in need of reinforcing the Shinto teaching, which became clear through the stagnant Taikyo-senpu and the subsequent pantheon dispute, some bureaucrats of the Ministry of Home Affairs including Akiyoshi YAMADA and several scholars of Japanese literature such as Isao MATSUNO established a research institute 'purely for the purpose of an in-depth study of the national literature' in obedience to an order of His Imperial Prince Arisugawanomiya Takahito.
この大教宣布の不振、それに続く祭神論争によりその教学の未成熟さを実感した神道はその教学の深化に迫られ、1882年（明治15年）8月23日に、有栖川宮幟仁親王の令旨を奉じた山田顕義ら内務省(日本)官僚と、松野勇雄ら数名の国文学者が「専ら国典を講究するため」として研究機関を設立した。