His governance was not perfect, but we can suppose that ancient people regarded his reign as a historical epoch from the following facts: before and after the Yuryaku period, the calendar of the "Nihon Shoki" (Chronicles of Japan) changes; and the Emperor Yuryaku appears in the beginning parts of "Manyoshu" (Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves) and "Nihon genho Zenaku ryoiki" (set of three books of Buddhist stories, written in the late 8th and early 9th century, usually referred to as the Nihon Ryoiki).
朝廷としての組織は未熟であったが、『日本書紀』の暦法が雄略紀以降とそれ以前で異なること、『万葉集』や『日本現報善悪霊異記』の冒頭に雄略天皇が掲げられていることから、古代の人々が雄略朝を歴史的な画期として捉えていたとみることもできる。