In the "Heiji monogatari" (The tale of the Heiji), which recorded the above story, described that Muneko (Ike no Zenni) desperately beg for Yoritomo's life because he was the living image of her son Iemori, who had died young; but in fact, it was assumed that it was caused by the approaches of the Imperial Princess Muneko (a daughter of Taikenmonin, a maternal older half-sister of Goshirakawa) and the Atsuta-guji family (the family of Yoritomo's mother), which was the family of a trusted vassal of the Taikenmonin (Yasuo MOTOKI, "Hogen Heiji no ran o yominaosu"(Rereading the Hogen and Heiji Disturbances)).
上記内容を記している『平治物語』では、頼朝が早世した我が子家盛に生き写しだったことから宗子が助命に奔走したとするが、実際には頼朝が仕えていた統子内親王（待賢門院の娘、後白河の同母姉）や同じ待賢門院近臣家の熱田宮司家（頼朝の母方の親族）の働きかけによるものと推測される(元木泰雄『保元・平治の乱を読み直す』)。