This post is sometimes confused with Saigu (an Imperial Princess appointed to serve the deities of the Ise-jingu Shrine), but Saigu were maiden imperial women who had served in shrines until the post was abolished in the period of the Northern and Southern Courts (Japan).
このことから斎宮と混同されることもあるが、斎宮は神宮に仕えた未婚の皇族女性のことで南北朝時代_(日本)に廃絶した。