Initially, the Genji choja post was filled by people from the Koga family and the Nakanoin family, as these were Murakami-Genji's main branches, though there were cases in which these posts were taken by members of branches of the Koba or Nakanoin families.
当初は村上源氏でも嫡流とされた久我家・中院家から源氏長者が出され、稀に人がいないとの理由でその庶流から出される例があった。