It is said that those five families were able to monopolize the quota of two monjo hakase by heredity because a person who once became monjo hakase could be promoted, capitalizing on his many opportunities to be acquainted with influential figures such as emperors, regents and chancellors, and Court nobles, to an important post such as benkan (a key position in the Grand Council of State called Dajokan) in a relatively shorter period of time than could other types of hakase who were hardly able to rise to a higher post and, further, because he could continue to gain the social trust and status, even after that, as a distinguished academic just as monjo hakase could.
定数2名の文章博士を5系統で世襲・独占するという形態が成立した背景には、文章博士は天皇や摂関以下公卿と面識を得る機会が多く、1度就任するとそれ以上の昇進が困難であった他の博士と比べて比較的短期間で弁官などの要職に転任して、その後も学識経験者として文章博士と同様の社会的信頼・地位を得ることが可能であったことによるとされている。