Although the clan was of the Ashikaga clan, the Hosokawa clan in this period was not a powerful gokenin (an immediate vassal of the shogunate in the Kamakura and the Muromachi through the Edo periods), unlike the Shiba clan and the Hatakeyama clan whose kakaku (family status) were high and were highly independent from the head family.
しかし同じ足利一門でも、斯波氏や畠山氏の家格が高く本家からの独立性が強かったのとは異なり、この時代の細川氏はさほど有力な御家人ではなかった。