In "The Record of the Disturbance in 1877" (Teichu Joranki) by Shiro ICHIKI he was described as 'Although people say he (Kirino) was a militarist, they do not know his profound idea. After he resigned and returned home in the winter of 1873, he always worried that the affairs of state could not be corrected, thought up measures to prevent the degradation of the imperial authority and insisted that it was necessary to enlighten the people. And most of all, he wished to establish the constitutional state and expand people's rights.'
市来四郎の『丁丑擾乱記』には、「世人、これ（桐野）を武断の人というといえども、その深きを知らざるなり。六年の冬掛冠帰省の後は、居常国事の救うべからざるを憂嘆し、皇威不墜の策を講じ、国民をして文明の域に立たしめんことを主張し、速に立憲の政体に改革し、民権を拡張せんことを希望する最も切なり」とある。