In 1854 he was raised to Shosanmi (Senior Third Rank), but along with Tomomi IWAKURA, his adopted child, and Tomotsuna IWAKURA, his grandson, he was implicated in the incident involving eighty-eight retainers of the Imperial Court in Ansei no Taigoku (suppression of extremists by the Shogunate).
安政元年（1854年）には正三位に進んだが、安政5年（1858年）の安政の大獄の廷臣八十八卿列参事件で養子の岩倉具視や孫の岩倉具綱とともに連座した。