He became an adopted sun of his grandfather MINAMOTO no Yoshimoto for some reason, assumed various positions including Maryo (Division of the Bureau of Horses), Tajima no kuni no suke (Assistant Governor of Tajima Province), Kozukenokuni no jo (provincial governor of Kozuke), Shimotsuke no kuni no kami (the governor of Shimotsuke Province), and Chikuzen no kami (governor of Chikuzen Province) as a middle-ranking noble and is said to have ultimately attained the rank of Jugoinoge (Junior Fifth Rank, Lower Grade) (according to "Sonpi Bunmyaku" [a text compiled in the fourteenth century that records the lineages of the aristocracy]).
何らかの理由により祖父源経基の養子となり、中級貴族として馬寮、但馬国介、上野国掾、下野国守、筑前守などを歴任し極位は従五位下であったとされる（『尊卑分脈』）。