* 1183 – Taira no Munemori and the Taira clan take the young Emperor Antoku and the three sacred treasures and flee to western Japan to escape pursuit by the Minamoto clan.

* 1192 – Minamoto no Yoritomo becomes Seii Tai Shōgun and the de facto ruler of Japan.

Saga's grandson, Minamoto no Tōru, is thought to be an inspiration for the protagonist of the novel The Tale of Genji.

* Minamoto no Tokiwa ( 源常 ) ( 812 – 854 )

* Minamoto no Akira ( 源明 ) ( 814 – 852 / 853 )

* Minamoto no Kiyoshi ( 源清 )

* Minamoto no Hiraku (?

* Minamoto no Mituhime ( 源密姫 )

* Minamoto no Yoshihime ( 源善姫 ）( 814 –?

* Minamoto no Sadamu ( 源定 ) ( 815 – 863 )

* Minamoto no Wakahime ( 源若姫 )

* Minamoto no Shizumu (?

* Minamoto no Makoto ( 源信 ) ( 810 – 869 )

* Minamoto no Sadahime ( 源貞姫 ) ( 810 – 880 )

* Minamoto no Hashihime ( 源端姫 )

* Minamoto no Hiromu ( 源弘 ) ( 812 – 863 )

* Minamoto no Kiyohime ( 源潔姫 ) ( 810 – 856 ), married to Fujiwara no Yoshifusa ( 藤原良房 )

* Minamoto no Matahime ( 源全姫 ) ( 812 – 882 ), Naishi-no-kami ( 尚侍 )

* Minamoto no Yutaka (?

* Minamoto no Ikeru ( 源生 ) ( 821 – 872 )

* Minamoto no Sumu (?

* Minamoto no Yasushi ( 源安 ) ( 822 – 853 )

* Minamoto no Tōru ( 源融 ) ( 822 – 895 ), Sadaijin

* Minamoto no Tsutomu ( 源勤 ) ( 824 – 881 )

However, the city clearly appears in the historical record only with Minamoto no Yoritomo's founding of the Kamakura shogunate in 1192.

The extraordinary events, the historical characters and the culture of the twenty years which go from Minamoto no Yoritomo's birth to the assassination of the last of his sons have been throughout Japanese history the background and the inspiration for countless poems, books, jidaigeki TV dramas, Kabuki plays, songs, manga and even videogames ; and are necessary to make sense of much of what one sees in today's Kamakura.

The stele on the spot where Minamoto no Yoritomo | Yoritomo's Ōkura Bakufu used to stand

Yoritomo's second son and third shogun Minamoto no Sanetomo spent most of his life staying out of politics and writing good poetry, but was nonetheless assassinated in February 1219 by his nephew Kugyō under the giant ginkgo tree that still stands at Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū.

After Yoritomo's death, Hōjō Tokimasa, the clan chief of Yoritomo's widow, Hōjō Masako, and former guardian of Yoritomo, claimed the title of regent ( Shikken ) to Yoritomo's son Minamoto no Yoriie, eventually making that claim hereditary to the Hōjō clan.

At that time Yoritomo's grandfather Minamoto no Tameyoshi, was the head of the Minamoto.

Yoritomo's half brother, Minamoto no Noriyori, was also exiled, while Minamoto no Yoshitsune, another half-brother, was forced to enter a monastery.

His half-brothers, Minamoto no Yoshitsune and Minamoto no Noriyori defeated the Taira in several key battles, but they could not stop Minamoto no Yoshinaka, Yoritomo's rival, from entering Kyoto in 1183 and chasing the Taira south.

* 1203: Yoritomo's successor as head of the Kamakura shogunate, Minamoto no Yoriie, was assassinated ; and former emperor Go-Toba was responsible for good relations with the shogunate when it was headed by Minamoto no Sanetomo from 1203 through 1219.

* 1185: the rival Taira clan is defeated at sea at the Battle of Dannoura by Yoritomo's brother Minamoto Yoshitsune,

In 1183, Minamoto no Yoshinaka, Yoritomo's rival and cousin, took Kyoto, driving the Taira ( and Emperor Antoku ) to Shikoku.

Nonetheless, Minamoto no Yoshitsune and Minamoto no Noriyori, Yoritomo's half brothers who had joined Yoritomo drove Yoshinaka out and executed him, and took Kyoto in the name of Yoritomo ( and the Hōjō.

When invited to return to Kyoto, he let it be known through his brother Tadayoshi that he felt safer where he was, and started to build himself a mansion in Ōkura, where first Kamakura shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo's residence had been.

Gokenin vassals were descendants of former shoen owners, former peasants or former samurai who had made a name for themselves in Minamoto no Yoritomo's army during his military campaigns against the Taira clan and were rewarded after victory.

The Ashikaga were a samurai family from Kamakura having blood ties with the Seiwa Genji, Minamoto no Yoritomo's clan.

In 1183, Yoritomo's rival and cousin, Minamoto no Yoshinaka, entered Kyoto and drove out the Heike ( and the young Emperor Antoku ).

** Yada Yoshiyasu ( 矢田 義康 ), vassal of Yoshinaka and commander of Minamoto forces at the battle of Mizushima.

** Saitō Sanemori ( 斎藤実盛 ), former vassal of Minamoto no Yoshitomo, switched sides and became a vassal of Taira no Munenori.