If the bakufu had had absolute political power as it used to, the situation that "Saburo (the third son) SHIMAZU", who was a tozama daimyo (non hereditary feudal lord) having no special rank or title even though he was the father of the lord, went to Kyoto with his troop and approached the court nobles without the bakufu's permission would have been deemed as unforgivably reckless, but the bakufu which was losing its authority since the Sakuradamongai Incident did not have the power to stop it.
藩主の父ではあるが、外様大名でしかも無位無官である「島津三郎」が兵を率いて京へ入り、幕府に無断で公家と接触するなどという事態は、幕府健在の頃であれば許されざる暴挙であったが、桜田門外の変以来権威の失墜しつつあった幕府体制にそれを阻止する力はなかった。