Yet, from the fact that there were no records to prove that "Engi Gishiki" was practically used in formalities at the imperial court, that its surviving fragment first appeared in "Hokuzansho" which was written more than one hundred years after the Engi era, and that it only appeared in documents during the period under the rule of Cloistered Emperors, some said that Engi Gishiki was compiled in the Engi era, but just as a partial improvement of "Jogan Gishiki" ("Gishiki"), some said that it was completed, but did not come into use, some said that it was not completed, and some said that it was not compiled during the Engi era, but records on the formalities in the Engi era established until the eleventh century were considered to be Gishiki.
だが、実際に『延喜儀式』が朝廷の儀礼など用いられた事が確認できる記録が無く、逸文の初出も延喜年間より100年以上も経た『北山抄』であり、その後は院政期の書物に限られる事から、延喜年間に編纂されたものの『貞観儀式』（『儀式』）の部分的手直しに過ぎないとする説や、完成したが施行されなかったとする説、未完成に終わったとする説、更には延喜期の編纂ではなく11世紀までに成立した延喜期の儀礼に関する記録が儀式と看做された説などが諸説に分かれている。