In the era from the latter half of the ninth century to the tenth century when almost all of the upper Kizoku members became occupied by persons from the Fujiwara clan or from the Minamoto clan, as described above, other clan members started to find ways of remaining as middle or lower Kizoku class members.
先述したとおり、9世紀後半から10世紀にかけての時期に、上流貴族が藤原氏・源氏にほぼ限定されると、他氏族は中下流貴族として存続する道を模索し始めた。