Historians and other experts considered that this 'Yamato sovereignty' provided to the powerful families or clans of Japan the permission to build the keyhole-shaped mounds; it was through this mound permission process that a unified authority was established.
前方後円墳はヤマト王権が倭の統一政権として確立してゆくなかで、各地の豪族に許可した形式であると考えられている。