At the time, some suggested that KAWAJI did what he did to cover up the scandal involving KURODA, who also came from Satsuma, and that this incident might well be one underlying cause of the assassination of Toshimichi OKUBO, KAWAJI's political patron, in May of the same year.
これについては、川路も薩摩出身であり、黒田をかばったという見方が当時からあり、同年5月に発生する、川路の庇護者であった大久保利通暗殺の遠因とも言われる。