The series of incidents is called Bansha no goku (Imprisonment of scholars of Western learning), which has been, until recent years, treated as an important event to crack down on thought during the Edo period, but in fact, it can be said that it was an incident of a false charge to exclude people regarded as political enemies, caused by Yozo TORII as mentioned above.
この一連の出来事は蛮社の獄と呼ばれ、近年までは江戸時代における一大思想弾圧事件として取り扱われていたが、上述のように実態は鳥居による政敵とみなされた者への排除のための冤罪事件といえる。