Shigekuni rejected the request, saying 'I had no reason to stop them from joining the army of Minamoto clan out of their moral debt to them. I joined your army at Ishibashiyama together with my grandson Yoshikiyo SASAKI in reply to your request, but you ignored what we did for you and ordered me to arrest the wives and children of Sadatsuna SASAKI and his brother. That is not what I can accept.'
重国は「彼らが旧恩のため源氏の元に参じるのを止める理由はない。私はあなたの要請に応じて外孫の佐々木義清を連れて石橋山に参じたのに、その功を考えず佐々木定綱らの妻子を捕らえよとの命を受けるのは本懐ではない」と拒否した。