His older brother, as the future head of the Fujiwara family, was always a rung higher on the social ladder, but Morosuke was praised as being an outstanding individual, so outstanding that it distressed his brother.
出世のほうは嫡男である実頼が常に先を行くが、「一苦しき二」（上席である兄実頼が心苦しくなるほど優れた次席の者）とまで言われた。