In the last years of her life, the Retired Empress supposedly carried out the affairs of state together with TACHIBANA no Moroe and FUJIWARA no Nakamaro, in place of the Emperor Shomu who was too ill to attend to affairs of state and, instead, tended to devote himself to Buddhism.
晩年期の上皇は、病気勝ちで政務が行えずに仏教信仰に傾きがちであった聖武天皇に代わって、橘諸兄・藤原仲麻呂らと政務を遂行していたと見られている。