They prospered during the Muromachi Period, but they all declined in the turmoil after the Warring States Period and, as noted above, many of their descendants became hatamoto or hanshi of various domains, the only ones remaining as daimyo during the Edo Period being the Kagatsume clan and the main Yamanouchi-Uesugi clan, who adopted Kenshin UESUGI from the Nagao clan.
室町時代は隆盛したが、戦国時代以降の混乱によりいずれも没落しており、その末裔は上記のように旗本や諸藩士になる者が多く、江戸時代に大名として存続したのは長尾氏から上杉謙信を養子に迎えた山内上杉宗家と加賀爪氏のみとなった。