The statements about oniwaban often say, 'As soon as the oniwaban received a mission, they went to a clothes shop owned by the bakufu, masqueraded as someone else in a secret room of the shop, and left Edo immediately with no notice to their family,' however, the oniwaban's writings and the bakufu's official records show that it was just a story.
御庭番に関する記述では、「御庭番は台命を受けるや直ちに幕府御用達呉服店に赴き秘密の部屋で変装し家族にも告げずに直ちに出発する」などとしたものをよく見かけるが、御庭番自身の談話や彼らの書き残した記録や幕府に残る公的記録から、これは伝説に過ぎないことがわかっている。