Torii was originally from the Hayashi family, which traditionally served the shogunate as Confucianist (New-Confucianist) and, given that background, did not like the interference of Dutch scholars in the politics of the shogunate and, according to some interpretations, considered Kazan and Egawa as traitors of Confucianism because they had once studied Confucianism under the Hayashi family (Shoheizaka School).
鳥居は元々幕府の儒学（朱子学）を担う林家の出であり、蘭学者が幕府の政治に介入することを好まなかったし、加えてそもそも崋山や江川も林家（昌平坂学問所）で儒学を学んだこともあり、鳥居からすれば彼らを裏切り者と感じていたともいわれる。