This was done to ensure that former priests of a monzeki temple were granted the honor befitting their rank even after they returned to secular life as a result of the movement to abolish Buddhism in the early Meiji period, and because of this, one-generation Miyake (house of an imperial prince) sprung up one after another around the time of the Meiji Restoration.
明治維新前後に次々に設置された1代限り宮家は、明治初年の廃仏毀釈の風潮に乗って続々と還俗した元門跡たちに、その身分にふさわしい礼遇を与えるためのものであった。