While the opinion that the Abe clan was the Chief of Fushu (chief of barbarians, that is, the influential persons who had been selected from Fushu by the authority of the Yamato Imperial Court) is widely disseminating, there are no descriptions in documents stating the Abe clan to be the Chief of Fushu, with the exception of a description, "the late Chief of Fushu ABE no Yoritoki," in Dajokanpu (official documents issued by Dajokan, Grand Council of State) in 1064.
安倍氏は俘囚長(俘囚の中から大和朝廷の権力によって選出された有力者）であったとの説が広く流布しているが、文献上では安倍氏を俘囚長とする記述は存在しておらず、康平7年の太政官符に「故俘囚首安倍頼時」との記載があるのみである。