 Such a marriage had been arranged 
by the "rōjū" Andō Nobumasa and Kuze Hirochika in order to foster reconciliation between the Imperial court and the shogunate, but the original candidate for the marriage died in 1861.Subsequently, the Shogunate petitioned the court for a royal marriage between Princess Kazu and Shogun Tokugawa Iemochi.Initially, Princess Kazu refused, and her brother Emperor Kōmei declined the shogunate request stating that Kazu was already engaged and did not want to leave Kyoto, and that, like any woman in Japan, his own sister could not be compelled to marry anyone she did not wish to marry, even by Imperial order.