 Though he was not first-born, in 1179 at age of 8 he was promoted to "gon-chūnagon", one of "Daijō-kan" due to the political tension between Emperor Go-Shirakawa and Taira no Kiyomori.However, this caused backlash from Kiyomori, leading to the Jisho coup in the same year.In 1232, he ordained as a Buddhist monk and took the Dharma name Daishin (大心).