He was ranked at Jugoinoge (Junior Fifth Rank, Lower Grade) when he was seventeen years old and, soon later, he celebrated his genpuku (the coming-of-age ceremony for a boy in the old days) and assumed the position of a Jiju (chamberlain), Konoefu (the Headquarters of the Inner Palace Guard).
17歳で従五位下に叙せられ、間もなく元服して後醍醐天皇の侍従・近衛府となる。