These wars astounded people of the time because they had not had a political fight which involved a military force for 300 years and several decades since the War of retired Emperor Heizei, in the early Heian period.
保元以前、武力で政争が解決した事例は平安初期の平城上皇の変にまで遡り、三百数十年ぶりの異変だったため、当時の人々に大きな衝撃を与えた。