However, it was natural at that time for a person of high rank to have concubines in order to protect his blood line, and Nobutaka was a tenjobito (a high-ranking courtier allowed into the Imperial Palace) who was promoted as high as jiju (a chamberlain); therefore, it is likely that his concubines and their children actually existed and made themselves known in the Tokugawa era.
ただし、信孝は侍従にまで昇進した殿上人であり、貴人が血統を保存するために側室を持つことが当然だった当時からすると側室、側室所生の子が存在し、徳川の世になってから世に出たとするのは的外れではないとも考えられる。