According to the 58 page of "Anecdotes about Priest Motsugai" (Doken TAKADA, 1904) in the modern digital library of the National Diet Library, when Motsugai went about asking for alms in Kyoto and he was seen to look in on the training hall of Shinsengumi (a group who guarded Kyoto during the end of Tokugawa Shogunate) by an officer.
によれば、物外が京の町を托鉢中、新選組の道場を覗いていたところを隊士が目をつけた。