Because he had an elder brother, who was heir to the Shogun, he became an adopted son of his maternal grandfather, Naomichi KONOE, in childhood and became a Buddhist priest named Kakukei at Kofuku-ji Ichijoin.
兄に嗣子である足利義輝がいたため、幼くして外祖父・近衛尚通の猶子となって仏門（興福寺一乗院）に入り、覚慶と名乗った。