However, because of arrival of the Black Ships two years later, national opinions were divided into expulsion of foreigners and opening the country to the world, and Edo Shogunate, which was aiming at a continuous policy of reconciliation between the imperial court and the shogunate, brought up the marriage policy of Princess Kazunomiya with the 14th generation General Iemochi TOKUGAWA.
しかし、その2年後の黒船来航によって国論が攘夷と開国に二分するなか、江戸幕府が目論んだ「公武合体政策」の一貫として、和宮と14代将軍・徳川家茂の婚姻政策が持ち上がる。