[17] Kōnin attempted to reconstruct the state finance and administrative organizations, which had been corrupted under the reign of Empress Kōken.

According to the Shoku Nihongi (続日本紀), the replacement happened as follows: in the third month of Hōki 3 (772), Inoe was accused of cursing her husband and Emperor Kōnin stripped her of the rank of Empress.

Since her clan had then no political power, his appointment had not been likely to happen without the deprivation of Osabe, the noblest male issue of Konin as the son of an Imperial Princess and Empress.

Today it is pointed out the accusations to Inoe and Osabe were likely to be plotted for depriving her son of the throne, and they were likely to be assassinated, by Fujiwara no Momokawa.

The people took those disasters as vengeance of noble victims of political conflicts, including late Inoe and Osabe.

Kugyō (公卿) is a collective term for the very few most powerful men attached to the court of the Emperor of Japan in pre-Meiji eras.