Using the Confucian notions of virtue and lack of virtue as the moving forces encouraging these changes, he describes the process of real political power's transfer from the emperors to the Fujiwara Regent's Line, then to the retired emperors, the Minamoto clan, and the Hojo clan.
この変をうながす原動力として徳・不徳という儒教観念を用い、政治実権が天皇から摂関家・上皇・源氏・北条氏へと移っていった経緯を述べる。