The Nakashima family belonged to the Saga-Genji (Minamoto clan), a descendant of Kawara no in (MINAMOTO no Toru, Sadaijin (Minister of the Left)), the twelfth child of the Emperor Saga.
中島氏は嵯峨天皇第十二子河原院（左大臣源融）の末裔、嵯峨源氏に属する。