In exile Yoritomo had very few retainers to call upon so, when he raised an army in 1180, he attempted to entice samurai from the South Kanto region to serve as `inherited gokenin` on the basis they had previously served his father (MINAMOTO no Yoshitomo) as retainers.
流人だった頼朝の家人はごくわずかであり、1180年の挙兵の際、父源義朝の家人だった南関東の武士たちを「累代の御家人」として誘引した。