He was named Daijo daikan (Grand minister of state) in 880, (The accounts provided in the "Kugyo bunin" (directory of court nobles) and other sources maintain that his title of Sessho was renewed, and that he became Kanpaku, however, those occurrences are not collaborated by the official history the "Nihon Sandai Jitsuroku" (sixth of the six classical Japanese history texts), and the "Dainihonshi" (Great history of Japan), which was compiled in the Edo period, contains no record of an Imperial proclamation appointing him as Kanpaku at that time).
元慶4年（880年）太政大臣を拝す（同年、摂政を改めて関白となると『公卿補任』などにあるが、正史の『日本三代実録』にはなく、江戸時代に編纂された『大日本史』などでは、この時の関白宣下を採っていない）。