Based in Togoku (the eastern part of Japan, particularly in the Kanto region), the family enhanced its reputation as a leader of the samurai families and gained the confidence of the Imperial Court by suppressing civil wars, until eventually it acquired the name "Ashikaga clan" when MINAMOTO no Yoshikuni, the third son of Yoshiie, settled in Ashikaga Manor, Shimotsuke Province.
国内の兵乱を平定、朝廷の信望を得るとともに東国を拠点として武家の棟梁としての名声をあげ、義家の三男である源義国が下野国足利荘に住し足利氏となった。