Since Matthew Perry came to Japan in 1853, the Emperor had an influential voice in politics in the bakufu, he distrusted the incident when a chief minister [councilor] of the Tokugawa shogunate, Naosuke II of the Edo bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun) arbitrarily made agreements with overseas countries, and even once, he expressed the exclusion of foreigners from Japan (the Imperial order of exclusion of foreigners in March (1863)).
嘉永6年（1853年）のマシュー・ペリー来航以来、幕府政治に発言力を持ち、江戸幕府大老井伊直弼が諸外国と独断で条約を結ぶとこれに不信を示し、一時は攘夷さえ表明したこともあった（文久3年（1863年）3月の攘夷勅命）。