There was also a tentative theory which assumed the period of drawing of the three portraits as the end of Kamakura period to the period of the Northern and Southern Courts in the 14th century based on the detailed examination of the drawing (the theory claimed by Toyomune MINAMOTO and Kiyoka SAKURAI); however, the popular theory stated above had been believed without any doubt until the middle of 1990s.
こうした通説に対し、画の詳細な検討から三像の成立を14世紀の鎌倉末期-南北朝期に求める仮説も出されていた（源豊宗、櫻井清香らの所説）が、1990年代半ばまで上記のような通説は疑いの余地のないものと考えられてきた。