During the Heian period, MINAMOTO no Yoshikuni (a bureaucrat with the title of Shikibu no Tayu), who was the third son of MINAMOTO no Yoshiie (also known as Hachimantaro Yoshiie) and head of the Kawachi-Genji clan, owned the Ashikaga fief in the Province of Shimotsuke (present-day Ashikaga city, Tochigi prefecture) and the descendents of his second son, Yoshiyasu, took the name Ashikaga.
平安時代に河内源氏の棟梁、源義家（八幡太郎義家）の三男・源義国（足利式部大夫）は下野国足利荘（栃木県足利市）を領有、次男・源義康以降の子孫は足利氏を称する。