Motohira made the request for the calligraphy through the Ninna-ji Temple, as he was concerned that people like him, from the Oshu-Fujiwara clan, would be taken for crude frontiersmen by people in Kyoto, and that Tadamichi might not be inclined to grant his request.
しかし、奥州藤原氏は京都からすれば俘囚の係累であり、身分を明かして依頼しても応じられるはずがないため、実際の依頼は仁和寺を通して行われた。