Those vassals served obediently during the period of Sadayori who was a wise ruler, but Yosikata and Yoshiharu who succeeded to Sadayori after his death repeatedly made political errors against Nagyoshi MIYOSHI and Nagamasa Azai, and lost control over powerful local loads (kokujin) such as Goto clan.
名君である定頼存命中は彼らも服属していたが、定頼の死後、後を継いだ義賢・義治は三好長慶や浅井長政に対して失策を重ね、後藤氏のような有力国人衆への統制を失うこととなったのである。