After MINAMOTO no Yoritomo founded the Kamakura bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun), he invited Hachiman to Kamakura where he was enshrined at Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, and his lower-ranking vassals also invited it to their territories to serve as a guardian of samurai families.
源頼朝が鎌倉幕府を開くと、八幡神を鎌倉へ迎えて鶴岡八幡宮とし、御家人たちも武家の主護神として自分の領内に勧請した。