One story in "Makuranososhi" (The Pillow Book) has it that Sei Shonagon was allowed not to make poems when she started to work at the Imperial Court, as she said she did not want to make any poems because her poems might bring shame on her father, and this story tells that Motosuke was such a great poet.
元輔が歌人として高名だったことは、『枕草子』にみえる、女房勤めした折に清少納言が「父の名を辱めたくないので歌は詠まない」といって許されたという挿話からも伺える。