After the Meiji Restoration, however, patriarchy based on Confucianism was expanded not only to the former samurai (warrior) class, but also to farm and merchant families at large, and the idea of Henjo Nanshi came to be dealt with, throughout the world of Japanese Buddhism including various schools of the Hokke Sect, as a basis to justify misogyny based on Confucian patriarchy, and a slogan that says "women cannot become any Buddha" in literal terms.
しかし明治維新後儒教的な家父長制が旧武士階層のみならず一般の農商家にも拡大されると文字通り「女人は成仏できない」という儒教的家父長制による女性蔑視の正当性を証明する根拠として法華系諸宗派を初めとする日本仏教全体で扱われるようになった。