In the beginning of the Kamakura period, the Imperial Court had called the bakufu buke or Kanto (derived from the "Kanto region"), but once the bakufu installed Rokuhara Tandai (an administrative and judicial agency in Rokuhara, Kyoto) in order to monitor the Imperial Court after the Jokyu War, the term "buke" came to indicate Rokuhara Tandai only, while the bakufu was simply called Kanto.
鎌倉時代初期の朝廷は、幕府を武家もしくは関東と呼称していたが、承久の乱を経て、幕府が朝廷を監視するため京都に六波羅探題を設置すると、武家の語は六波羅探題のみを指し、幕府は関東とのみ呼ばれるようになる。