However, in 1863, he left Kyoto for Choshu in an incident known as Shichikyo-ochi, where seven nobles were banished from the imperial court following the August Eighteenth Coup, which was staged by court nobles including Imperial Prince Kuninomiya Asahiko and warriors from the Satsuma and Aizu domains, who supported the policy of uniting the Shogunate and the Court (Kobu Gattai).
文久3年（1863年）、公武合体派の久邇宮朝彦親王らの公家や薩摩藩、会津藩らが結託したクーデターである八月十八日の政変により朝廷を追放され、京都を逃れて長州へ移る（七卿落ち）。