The reason why Gosaga took such an unclear stance was based on his own experience as being unexpectedly selected from a collateral family line to ascend to Emperor due to the bakufu's intervention, and knew well that if he named a successor that was not to the bakufu's liking, it would easily have been changed by the bakufu.
後嵯峨がこのような曖昧な態度をとったのは、自身が幕府の介入によって傍系から予想外の即位をした経験を踏まえ、後継者を指名しても幕府の意にかなわなければ簡単に覆されてしまうことをよく知っていたためである。