In the traditional sense of the regency, only an infant emperor's maternal grandfather and his relatives had the right to take the post of regent, and then the post of chancellor or court noble, but after the cloistered government was formed, it was officially recognized that the posts of regent and chancellor were to be passed down from generation to generation only within Yorimichi's line in the Northern House of the Fujiwara clan.
古典的理解での摂関政治では、幼帝の外祖父とその血縁者のみが摂政、後に関白や公卿の権利を持っていたが、院政の成立後には藤原北家頼通流にのみ摂政・関白職が世襲されることが公認される。