As the Kojiki and the Nihonshoki, which are the main sources of the achievements and legends of Shotoku Taishi, were compiled about a century after his death, and by taking into account the circumstances behind their compilation, it is believed that the descriptions were somewhat dramatized.
なお、聖徳太子の事績や伝説については、それらが主に掲載されている古事記日本書紀の編纂が既に死後1世紀近く経っていることや記紀成立の背景を反映して、脚色が加味されていると思われる。