Although Naosuke's head was kept at the ENDO residence, the Hikone clan which found out where his head was, having been deceived, took the head of Kurota KATA, who was chosen from feudal retainers dying on a battle field because he was a similar age and build to Naosuke, and sewed it to Naosuke's body, with the help of a doctor in the hantei (the residence maintained by a daimyo in Edo).
直弼の首は遠藤邸に置かれていたが、所在をつきとめた彦根藩側が、闘死した藩士のうち年齢と体格が直弼に似た加田九郎太の首と偽ってもらい受け、藩邸で典医により胴体と縫い合わされた。