MONONOBE no Moriya, NAKATOMI no Katsumi, and others insisted that the plague was caused by worship of Buddhism by the Soga clan, and implemented a large-scale Haibutsu-kishaku (a movement to abolish Buddhism).
物部守屋・中臣勝海らはこれを蘇我氏による仏教崇拝が原因として、大規模な廃仏毀釈を実施した。