These phenomena tended to be simply seen as gekokujo (an inverted social order when the lowly reigned over the elite) in the past, but as the study progresses on the form of territory ruling by daimyo in the Warring States period, more people think that the ruling system was never be autocratic and took into consultations and intentions of the vassalage.
これらの現象は従来は下克上の一言で片づけられてきた嫌いがあるが、戦国大名による領国支配の形態の研究が進むにつれ、その支配体制が決して専制的なものでなく、家臣団の衆議・意向を汲み取っていたものであるとの見方が多くなってきている。