When Shinkuro ISE was thought to have been a mere masterless samurai, his actions were conveyed as the first step in a mastermind plan to succeed as the future Soun HOJO, but recent studies have almost confirmed that he was Moritoki ISE, a member of the distinguished Ise clan and a retainer of the Muromachi shogunate, and that he had in fact gone to Suruga Province to arbitrate the Imagawa family dispute in accordance with the wishes of the Muromachi shogunate.
伊勢新九郎が素浪人と考えられていた頃は、抜群の知略による後の北条早雲の出世の第一歩のように語られていたが、近年の研究で名門伊勢氏の一族の幕臣伊勢盛時であることがほぼ明らかになっており、これは室町幕府の意向を受けて伊勢盛時が駿河国へ下向して今川家の内紛を調停したようだ。