"Kanmon Nikki" (Diary of Imperial Prince Fushimi no miya Sadafusa) suggests that although this event appears as a result of dire poverty, due to the fact that the bakufu at that time attempted to have Imperial Prince Mihito (later Emperor Shoko), the prince of Emperor Gokomatsu, take over the throne, contrary to the conditions of peace (ryoto tetsuritsu (alternate accedence from two ancestries of imperial families), it may have been an act of protest by the Cloistered Emperor Gokameyama, who was unhappy with such developments.
この事件について、『看聞日記』には生活上の困窮によるものと見えるが、当時の幕府が講和条件（両統迭立）に反して後小松天皇皇子の躬仁親王（後の称光天皇）の即位を目論んでいることから、そのような動きに不満を抱く後亀山法皇の抗議行動であったとも考えられる。