However, there are some influential theories about the death poem; one says that it is a song-drama in which Hitomaro himself pretended he was dying (Haku ITO) and another says that it is just a pretext provided by people of later generations.
が、この辞世歌については、人麻呂が自身の死を演じた歌謡劇であるとの理解（伊藤博）や、後人の仮託であるとの見解も有力である。