As a term, gekokujo was in use from the Kamakura period through to the period of the Northern and Southern Courts (Japan); examples of gekokujo include the scoundrels that started to appear near the end of the Kamakura period who fought against the authorities in order to protect their own vested interests, as well as the anti-authoritarian social movement known as "basara" ("vajra" in Sanskrit) that occurred during the Nanbokucho period.
用語としては鎌倉時代から南北朝時代(日本)より見られ、鎌倉時代後期から出現した自らの既得権益を守るために権力と戦う悪党や、南北朝時代の社会的風潮であった「ばさら」も下剋上の一種とされた。