The northern branch of the Fujiwara clan (Fujiwara Hokke), of which Mototsune was an important progenitor (Nakaso), and the Murakami-Genji (Minamoto clan), which had a close relationship with the Fujiwara Hokke continued to hold sway over the Imperial Court, and before modern times, those putting forward the argument that Mototsune was similar to Huo Guang of the Former Han Dynasty, in that he was a "model vassal" who had toppled the tyrannical Emperor Yozei, were mainly scholars of Confucianism.
基経を中祖とする藤原北家および藤原北家と近しい関係にある村上源氏が朝廷の主流を占めつづけたこともあり、近代以前には暴君・陽成天皇を廃した「功臣」として前漢の霍光に擬える説が儒学者を中心に唱えられた。