Though Tadataka was commonly famous as 'consultant of tenka (the world),' the anecdotes that he came to castle riding on 'o-darai' (large basin) under the prohibition from using koshi (litter) by hatamoto rank or below, or that he remonstrated with shogun Iemitsu whenever something happened, were the fiction in kodan storytelling or koshaku narration in the later period.
俗に「天下のご意見番」として名高い忠教であるが、旗本以下の輿が禁止された際に「大だらい」に乗って登城したという逸話や将軍・家光にことあるごとに諫言したなどの逸話は後世の講談や講釈の中での創作である。