Tsunayoshi, hoping to deprive the Sakai family of their social standing and property, obsessively requested an investigation to determine if Tadakiyo had truly died of illness by ordering, for example, the ometsuke (chief inspector) to dig up Tadakiyo's grave.
しかし、酒井家を改易にしたい綱吉は大目付に「墓から掘り起こせ」などと命じて病死かどうかを異常なまでに詮議させたという。