As his successor, Motofusa appointed not his eldest son, Fujiwara no Takatada (later to become the Minister of the Left), but Moroie MATSUDONO who was only eight years old on the basis that Moroie's maternal grandfather was the Grand Minister of State.
しかも、基房は生母の父が太政大臣であるからという理由で長男の藤原隆忠（後の左大臣）ではなく、わずか8歳の松殿師家を後継者にした。