Some people insist that Sekien created it for fun, while others believe that it was a tsukumo-gami (a type of Japanese spirits that originate in items or artifacts that have reached their 100th birthday and become alive) transmuted from an old straw raincoat and straw sandals which had been possessed by the grudge of farmers upon whom heavy taxes had been imposed at prolonged poor harvest time.
石燕が遊び絵として創作したものとの説や、凶作が続いた時期に年貢を厳しく取り立てられた農民の怨みの念が、古い蓑や草鞋に乗り移って付喪神と化したものだとの説がある。