Meanwhile, some people say that he was a member of the Saito clan whose real family name was Fujiwara because there remains a genealogy indicating that he was the son of Sanekazu, Sanemori's younger brother.
一方で実盛の弟、実員の子とする系図があることから、本姓藤原氏の斎藤氏の一族とする見解もある。