The Kamo clan (賀茂氏, Kamo-shi) is a Japanese sacerdotal kin group[1] which traces its roots from a Yayoi period shrine in northeastern Kyoto.

[4] The formal names of corollary jinja memorialize vital clan roots in a history which pre-dates the founding of Japan's ancient capital.

[5] The Kamo Shrine encompasses what are now independent but traditionally associated jinja or shrines—the Kamo-wakeikazuchi Shrine (賀茂別雷神社, Kamo-wakeikazuchi jinja) in Kyoto's Kita Ward and the Kamo-mioya Shrine (賀茂御祖神社, Kamo-mioya jinja) in Sakyo Ward.

[6] Although now incorporated within boundaries of the city, the location was once Tadasu no Mori (糺の森),[7] the wild forest home of the exclusive caretakers of the shrine from prehistoric times.

Modern scholarship has revealed that the genealogy proffered to the emperor contained falsified information; however, since the Matsudaira used the same crest as the Kamo clan,[9] some[who?]