Relations warmed up to the point of family marriage talks, but these fell through due to the sudden death of the potential Shōgun groom.

[4][2] Yasuhito was born on January 14, 1702, and was the fifth son of Emperor Higashiyama, while his birth mother was a lady-in-waiting named Kushige Yoshiko.

The early years of Yasuhito's life were marked with disasters and incidents that included two major earthquakes, and a revenge plot involving leaderless samurai to avenge their fallen master.

On a particular note, Shōgun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi appointed a commission to repair and restore Imperial mausoleums shortly before his death on February 19, 1709.

On January 16, 1710, Higashiyama died, and the imperial powers were now exercised in Nakamikado's name by his also retired grandfather Emperor Reigen.

During this period, relations with the Tokugawa shogunate were fairly good in part due to former Emperor Higashiyama's warmed relationship with predecessors.

Relations warmed to the point of marriage talks between Imperial Princess Yaso-no-miya Yoshiko (八十宮吉子内親王), daughter of Retired Emperor Reigen and the seventh shōgun, Tokugawa Ietsugu.

[15] The Kyōhō famine started in 1732 and lasted into 1733, due to swarms of locust that devastated crops in agricultural communities around the inland sea.

Nakamikado took on the title of Daijō Tennō (Retired Emperor), and the era's name was changed to Genbun (meaning "Original civility") to mark the occasion.

This edict declared that henceforth, authorized coinage in the empire would be those copper coins which were marked on the obverse with the character 文 (Genbun, also pronounced bun in Japanese).

[20] While 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.