The Empress was also keenly aware of this atmosphere, and purges to the Imperial family were done one after another as follows: the dethroned Emperor Junnin's mysterious death, the sudden execution of the Prince Wake, sudden abridgment of register of the Imperial family from Imperial Princess Fuwa who was a younger paternal half-sister of the Empress; accordingly, the subject of the succession to the Imperial Throne became virtually a taboo.
天皇もこの空気を敏感に察しており、淡路に流された廃帝（淳仁天皇）の謎の死、和気王の突然の処刑、天皇の異母妹である不破内親王の皇籍剥奪など皇族に対する粛清が次々と行われていき、皇位継承問題は事実上のタブーとなっていった。