As can be seen in "Azuma Kagami" (The Mirror of the East) and "Taiheiki" (The Record of the Great Peace), many samurai worshipped Shinto Kami during the latter part of the Heian period as a result of Usa Hachiman-gu Shrine becoming the ujigami (ancestral deity) of the Minamoto clan.
特に平安時代後期には、宇佐八幡宮が源氏の氏神となった事により、『吾妻鏡』や『太平記』に見られるように、多くの武士によって神に祈願が為された。