However, these traditions have been told in relation to the tale that 'Murasaki Shikibu began writing to comfort her sorrow over the death of MINAMOTO no Takaakira,' which is not true to the historical fact, or in a mysterious medieval folktale that Murasaki Shikibu was an incarnation of Bodhisattva; thus there have been many statements that deny them since old times, and they haven't been taken as clues to consider the formation and structure of "The Tale of Genji" in the study of "The Tale of Genji" since modern times.
但しこれらの伝承は「紫式部が源高明の死を悼んで『源氏物語』を書き始めた」とするどう考えても歴史的事実に合わない説話や、紫式部が菩薩の化身であるといった中世的な神秘的伝承と関連づけて伝えられることも多かったため、古くからこれを否定する言説も多く、近世以降の『源氏物語』研究においては『源氏物語』の成立や構成を考えるための手がかりとされることはなかった。