His father was MINAMOTO no Yoritaka, the grandson of MINAMOTO no Yoshiie, and Yoritaka was gokenin (an immediate vassal of the shogunate in the Kamakura and Muromachi through Edo periods)of the Kamakura bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun).
父は鎌倉幕府御家人で源義家の孫にあたる源頼隆。