Minamoto no Yoritomo (源 頼朝^?, May 9, 1147 – February 9, 1199) was the founder and the first shogun of the Kamakura Shogunate of Japan. He ruled from 1192 until 1199.

Yoritomo was the third son of Minamoto no Yoshitomo, heir of the Minamoto (Seiwa Genji) clan, and his official wife, a daughter of Fujiwara no Suenori, who was a member of the illustrious Fujiwara clan. Yoritomo was born in Atsuta, Owari Province(present-day Atsuta-ku, Nagoya). At that time Yoritomo's grandfather Minamoto no Tameyoshi, was the head of the Minamoto.

In 1156, factional divisions in the court erupted into open warfare within the capital itself. The cloistered Emperor Toba and his son Emperor Go-Shirakawa sided with the son of Fujiwara regent Fujiwara no Tadazane, Fujiwara no Tadamichi as well as Taira no Kiyomori (a member of the Taira clan), while Cloistered Emperor Sutoku sided with Tadazane's younger son, Fujiwara no Yorinaga. This was known as the Hōgen Rebellion, or the 'Hogen Disturbance'.

Unfortunately the Seiwa Genji were split. The head of the clan, Tameyoshi, sided with Cloistered Emperor Sutoku while his son, Yoshitomo, sided with Cloistered Emperor Toba and Emperor Go-Shirakawa, as well as Kiyomori. In the end, the supporters of Emperor Go-Shirakawa won the civil war, thus ensuring victory for Yoshitomo and Kiyomori. Cloistered Emperor Sutoku was placed under house arrest, and Yorinaga was fatally wounded in battle. Tameyoshi was executed as well, even after numerous pleas from Yoshitomo. Nonetheless, Emperor Go-Shirakawa and Kiyomori were ruthless, and Yoshitomo found himself as the head of the Minamoto, while Yoritomo became the heir.

The tomb of Minamoto no Yoritomo (源頼朝の墓^?) (see photo below) is a monument in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan, located some hundred meters north of the site where the palace called Ōkura Bakufu, seat of Minamoto no Yoritomo's government, once stood. Although there is no evidence his remains are actually there, it is commonly assumed to be the resting place of Minamoto no Yoritomo, founder and first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate. The cenotaph consists of a 186 cm gorintō (a Buddhist stone stupa) surrounded by a stone tamagaki (a fence usually delimiting the sacred soil of a Shinto shrine), and was built during the Edo period (1603–1868), far after the shogun's death in 1199. In the course of history, the site's prestige has attracted other structures, so that now it is occupied by the Site of the Hokke-dō, (the spot where Yoritomo's Hokke-dō, or funeral temple, used to stand during the Edo period), Shirahata Shrine (白幡神社, Shirahata Jinja^?) (not to be confused with the omonymous shrine part of Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū), and the black stone stele commemorating the Hokke-dō and the mass suicide of the Miura clan. A couple of hundred meters further to the east lie the yagura (an artificial cave used during the Kamakura period as a grave or as a cenotaph) of the Miura clan, the twin tombs of Oe no Hiromoto and of his son Mōri Suemitsu, and the grave of Yoritomo's illegitimate son Shimazu Tadahisa. The grave of Yoritomo and the ruins of the Hokke-dō are national Historic Sites.

Minamoto no Yoshimitsu (源 義光^?, 1045 – November 25, 1127), son of Minamoto no Yoriyoshi, was a Minamoto clan samurai during Japan's Heian Period. His brother was the famous Minamoto no Yoshiie. Minamoto no Yoshimitsu is credited as the ancient progenitor of the Japanese martial art, Daitō-ryū aiki-jūjutsu. Yoshimitsu is also known as Shinra Saburō (新羅 三郎).

According to Daitō-ryū's intal history, Yoshimitsu dissected the corpses of men killed in battle, and studied them for the purpose of learning vital point striking (atemi) and joint lock techniques. Daitō-ryū takes its name from that of a mansion that Yoshimitsu lived in as a child, called "Daitō", in Ōmi Province (modern day Shiga Prefecture).

For military service during the Later Three-Year War (1083–1087), Yoshimitsu was made lord of Kai Province (modern day Yamanashi Prefecture), where he settled. Yoshimitsu's great-grandson, Nobuyoshi, eventually took the surname "Takeda", and the techniques Yoshimitsu discovered would be secretly passed down within the Takeda clan until the late 19th century, when Takeda Sokaku began teaching them to the public.

Ariwara no Narihira (在原 業平^?, 825 – July 9, 880) was a Japanese waka poet and aristocrat. He was one of six waka poets referred in the preface in kana to Kokin Wakashū by Ki no Tsurayuki, and has been named as the hero of The Tales of Ise, whose hero was an anonym in itself but most of whose love affairs could be attributed to Narihira.

He was the fifth son of Prince Abo, a son of Emperor Heizei. His mother Princess Ito was a daughter of Emperor Kammu, so he was therefore linked to Emperor Kammu by both maternal and paternal lineage. Along with his other brothers, he was relegated to civilian life, receiving a new clan name, Ariwara.

Although he belonged to the noblest lineage, his political life was not prominent, especially under the reign of Emperor Montoku. During the thirteen years of the Emperor's reign, Narihira was not raised to a higher rank within the court. This setback was supposedly caused by a scandal involving him and Fujiwara no Takaiko (藤原高子), an imperial consort or another loyal lady. Both love affairs were referred to in The Tales of Ise.