Keeping a distance from politics, Imperial Prince Takahito started to become involved in the dissemination of State Shinto and the study of Japanese classical literature as soon as he assumed the post of the governor general of the Jingikan (the department of worship) on February 10, 1868.
幟仁親王は政治から距離を置く代わりに、慶応4年1月17日（1868年2月10日）に神祇官総督に就任したのを皮切りに国家神道や国学の普及に努めた。