In those days, the evaluation that Emperor Go-Daigo was an illegitimate sovereign was firmly established, and in Dai Nihonshi, which Mitsukuni TOKUGAWA began to compile, there is a section recognizing that Emperor Go-Daigo was illegitimate based on the foundation that the Southern Court was legitimate. In Tokushi Yoron, the author, Hakuseki ARAI, placed Emperor Go-Daigo at the end of his list of responsible emperors, based on his historical view that the accumulated immorality of successive emperors lead to the appearance of samurai government.
近世においては後醍醐天皇を不徳の君であるとする評価が定着し、徳川光圀によって編纂が開始された『大日本史』においては南朝を正統とする立場から後醍醐天皇を不徳とする認識が見られ、江戸時代には新井白石が『読史余論』において、王朝政治における累代の天皇の失徳が武家政権成立の過程であるとする歴史観の中で、後醍醐天皇をその末尾に位置付けている。