There is a theory that though Kegare was a notion which had been originally brought into Japan with Buddhism as mentioned above, it was gradually syncretized with the concept of Shinto in which the Emperor was seen as holy, and as a result, the discriminated were thought to be Kegare people who were at the opposite end of the Emperor.
上記のように、穢れは元々仏教により日本にもたらされた観念であるが、次第に天皇を神聖視する神道の考えと結びつき、被差別民は神聖な天皇の対極に位置する穢れた民と見なされるようになったという説がある。