In the end, based on the description in "Dainihonshi" (Great Japanese History) as evidence, the Emperor Meiji decided that the Southern Court was the legitimate line because it owned the Three Sacred Treasures (however, the current academic theory has basically established that the three Northern Court emperors, Emperors Kogon, Komyo and Suko, had owned the Three Sacred Treasures, so the assumption that all of the emperors in the Northern Court were 'not legitimate' because they did not own the sacred treasures is incorrect.
最終的には「大日本史」の記述を根拠に、明治天皇の裁断で三種の神器を所有していた南朝が正統であるとされ（ただし、現在の学説では北朝の光厳・光明・崇光の三帝は三種の神器を保有していたことがほぼ確実とみられ、神器の有無を根拠に北朝のすべてを「正統でない」とするのは無理である。