There is little historical information on Ishikawa's life, and thus he has become a folk hero whose background and origins have been widely speculated and popularized.
He is the subject of many Kabuki plays. One places him on the great gate of Nanzenji in Kyoto. As he strikes a pose, he exclaims, "A magnificent view! A magnificent view! For this view of spring, a million dollars would be too low a price, too low a price!" Before his death, he composed a well-known poem: "Ishikawa may perish on the sands along the banks of this river, yet the seeds of thievery from this world shall never pass!"
Ishikawa Goemon is the main character in a video game series produced by Konami known as Ganbare Goemon in Japan and Mystical Ninja in the United States.
Ishikawa Goemon also recently appeared in the Koei title, Samurai Warriors. He is also mentioned in Lupin III movies as an ancestor of one of Lupin's partners, Goemon Ishikawa XIII. He is claimed to be the first of a lineage of renegade samurai.