By the period Kagefumi lived in, several hundred years had already passed since the Ritsuryo system had become nothing but a name and the noble families of the court had been divided by status into the Tosho-ke (the lineage of court nobles occupying relatively high ranks) and the Jige-ke.
景文が生きた時代は、律令制が有名無実化し公家の家格が堂上家と地下家に分離してから、すでに数百年が経過していた。