(also called , , or ) was a title equivalent to shà Âgun assumed by Ashikaga Motouji after his nomination to , or deputy shà Âgun for the , in 1349. Motouji transferred his original title to the Uesugi family, which had previously held the hereditary title of shitsuji, and would thereafter provide the '. The Ashikaga had been forced to move to Kyoto, abandoning Kamakura and the Kantà  region, because of the continuing difficulties they had keeping the Emperor and the loyalists under control (see the article Nanboku-chà  period). Motouji had been sent by his father, shà Âgun Ashikaga Takauji, precisely because the latter understood the importance of controlling the Kantà  region and wanted to have an Ashikaga ruler there, but the administration in Kamakura was from the beginning characterized by its rebelliousness. The shà Âgun's idea never really worked and actually backfired.
After Motouji, all the kubà  wanted power over the entire country. The era is therefore essentially a struggle for the shogunate between the Kamakura and the Kyoto branches of the Ashikaga clan. In the end, Kamakura had to be retaken by force by troops from Kyoto. The five kubà  recorded by history, all of which were Motouji's bloodline, were (in order Motouji himself) Ujimitsu, Mitsukane, Mochiuji and Shigeuji.
In the first weeks of 1336, two years after the fall of Kamakura, the first of the Ashikaga shoguns Ashikaga Takauji left the city for Kyoto in pursuit of Nitta Yoshisada. He left behind his 4-year-old son Yoshiakira as his representative in the trust of three guardians: Hosokawa Kiyouji, Uesugi Noriaki, and Shiba Ienaga. Because the three were related to him through blood or marriage, he believed they would keep Kantà  loyal to him. This action formally divided the country in two, giving the east and the west separate administrations with similar rights to power. Not only did both had Ashikaga rulers, but Kamakura, which until very recently had been the seat of a shogunate, was still capital of the Kantà Â, and independentist feelings were strong among Kamakura samurai.
In 1349 Takauji called Yoshiakira to Kyoto replacing him with one of his sons, Motouji, to whom he gave the title of ', or Kantà  deputy. At first the territory under his rule, known as , included the eight Kantà  provinces (the ), plus Kai and Izu. Later, Kantà  Kubà  Ashikaga Ujimitsu was given by the shogunate as a reward for his military support the two huge provinces of Mutsu and Dewa.
The shà Âgun's deputy in the Kantà  region had the vital task to keep it under control. Structurally, his government was a small-scale version of Kyoto's shogunate and had full judiciary and executive powers. Because the kanrei was the son of the shà Âgun, ruled the Kantà  and controlled the military there, the area was usually called Kamakura Bakufu (Kamakura Shogunate), and Motouji or Kamakura/Kantà  Gosho, an equivalent title. When later the habit of calling the shà Âgun kubà  spread from Kyoto to the Kantà Â, the ruler of Kamakura came to be called Kamakura Kubà Â. The Kanrei title was passed on to the Uesugi hereditary shitsuji. The first time the title appears in writing is in a 1382 entry of a document called , under second Kubà  Ujimitsu. This term had been first adopted by Ashikaga Takauji himself, and its use therefore implied equality to the shà Âgun. In fact, sometimes the Kanto Kubà  was called Kantà  shà Âgun.
This inherently unstable double-headed power structure was made even more problematic by the continuous display of independence of the Kantà  region. Kamakura had just been conquered and its desire of independence was still strong. Also, many of the Ashikaga in Kamakura had been supporters of the shà Âgun's dead brother Ashikaga Tadayoshi and resented Takauji's rule. Consequently, after Motouji's death, Kamakura made clear it didn't want to be ruled by Kyoto. The intentions of the Kantà  Ashikaga were made crystal clear by their confiscation of the Ashikaga-no-shà Â: the family piece of land in Shimotsuke Province that had given the name to the clan.
Second kubà  Ujimitsu and his descendants tried to expand their influence, causing a series of incidents. By the time of third shà Âgun Yoshimitsu, the Kamakura branch of the Ashikaga clan was regarded with suspicion. Tension continued to mount until it came to a head between sixth shà Âgun Yoshinori and fourth kubà  Mochiuji. Mochiuji had hoped to succeed Ashikaga Yoshimochi as shà Âgun and was disappointed by seeing Yoshinori rob him of the post. To express his displeasure, he refused to use the new shà Âgun's era name (nengà Â). In 1439 Yoshinori sent his army to the Kantà Â, and Mochiuji was defeated and forced to kill himself.
In 1449 Kyoto made one last effort to make the system work. Shigeuji, last descendant of Motouji, was nominated and sent to Kamakura. The relationship between him and the Uesugi was strained from the beginning and culminated with Shigeuji's killing of Uesugi Noritada, a murder that made the Kantà  province fall into chaos. (See also the article Kyà Âtoku Incident.) In 1455 Shigeuji was deposed by Kyoto forces and had to escape to Koga in Shimà Âsa Province, from where he directed a rebellion against the shogunate. This was the end of the . The title would survive, but effective power would be in the hands of the Uesugi.
Because he no longer was , Shigeuji now called himself Koga kubà Â. In 1457, eighth shà Âgun Ashikaga Yoshimasa sent his younger brother Masatomo with an army to pacify Kantà Â, but Masatomo was unable to even enter Kamakura. This was the beginning of an era in which the Kantà  and Kamakura were devastated by a series of civil wars called the Sengoku period. The 5th Kantà  kubo under the Later Hà Âjà  clan was Ashikaga Yoshiuji, his daughter, Ashikaga Ujinohime succeeded Yoshiuji after his death. Ujinohime was the last Koga Kubo after Toyotomi Hideyoshi conquered the Later Hà Âjà  clan, she was moved to Kà Ânosu Palace in 1590.
At the location of the former residence in Kamakura stands a black memorial stele, whose inscription reads:
<blockquote>"After Minamoto no Yoritomo founded his shogunate, Ashikaga Yoshikane made this place his residence. His descendants also resided here for well over 200 years thereafter. After Ashikaga Takauji became shà Âgun and moved to Kyoto, his son and second shà Âgun Yoshiakira decided to also live there. Yoshiakira's younger brother Motouji then became ' and commanded his army from here. This became a tradition for all of the Ashikaga that followed. They, after Kyoto's fashion, gave themselves the title kubà Â. In 1455 kubà  Ashikaga Shigeuji, after clashing with Uesugi Noritada, moved to Ibaraki's Shimà Âsa and the residence was demolished.
Erected in March 1918 by the Kamakurachà  Seinendan"</blockquote>
The stele is at Jà Âmyà Âji 4âÂÂ2âÂÂ25, near Nijinohashi Bridge.
It is near the bottom of an extremely narrow valley, and therefore easily defensible. The nearby Asaina Pass guaranteed an easy escape in a siege. According to the Shinpen Kamakurashi, a guide book published in 1685, more than two centuries later after Shigeuji's escape, the spot where the kubà Â's mansion had been was left empty by local peasants in the hope he may return.