In the first half of 1863, court nobles with ties to the Choshu clan, who were known as the Tobaku Sonjo-ha (lit. anti-shogunate, pro-Emperor, pro-foreigner-expulsion faction), were the dominant group in the Imperial Court.
文久3年（1863年）前半は長州藩系公卿を中心とした討幕・尊攘派が朝廷の主流であった。