To the criticism that says Yoshitsune won the battle by employing mean tactics, there are those who oppose to this criticism advocating that in the first place there were no established battle rules at that time (strictly speaking, "Konjaku Monogatari" (The Tale of Times Now Past) and other documents confirm that some rules including the place of battle for one-on-one fight and collective battle was established in several cases, such as when warriors (samurai) had a private reason or a problem concerning their territories or honor and both parties whished to solve the problems by themselves by way of a duel.
そもそも当時の合戦にルールは存在せず（厳密に言うならば、武士が私的な理由、所領問題や名誉に関わる問題で、自力・当事者間で解決しようとして合戦に及ぶ場合には一騎打ちや合戦を行う場所の指定などがあったことが『今昔物語集』などで確認できる）、義経の勝因を当時としては卑怯な戦法にある、と非難することに対する反論もある。