In the late Heian period, MINAMOTO no Tsuna (WATANABE no Tsuna) of Saga-Genji, the Minamoto clan, lived there and started the Watanabe clan by changing his family name to Watanabe.
平安時代後期には源氏嵯峨源氏の源綱（渡辺綱）がこの地に住んで渡辺を名字とし、渡辺氏を起こした。