According to a popular theory, they are recognized as portraits of MINAMOTO no Yoritomo, TAIRA no Shigemori, and FUJIWARA no Mitsuyoshi, and reported that they were drawn by the famous nise-e painter FUJIWARA no Takanobu, who lived at the end of 12th century; however, a new theory was announced in 1995 that they are the portraits of Tadayoshi ASHIKAGA, Takauji ASHIKAGA, and Yoshiakira ASHIKAGA; the identification of the figures and the timing of drawing have been controversial since then.
通説では、国宝名称にあるように源頼朝・平重盛・藤原光能の肖像画とされ、12世紀末の似絵の名手藤原隆信の作とされていたが、1995年（平成7）に足利直義・足利尊氏・足利義詮の肖像画であるとする新説が発表され、以後、像主・成立時期などをめぐって論争が続いている。