Kamakura's ruler was called "Kantō kubō", a title equivalent to "shōgun" assumed by Ashikaga Takauji's son Motouji after his nomination to "Kantō kanrei", or deputy "shōgun", in 1349. Motouji transferred his original title to the Uesugi family, which had previously held the hereditary title of , and would thereafter provide the "Kantō kanrei". Motouji had been sent by his father because this last understood the importance of controlling the Kantō region and wanted to have an Ashikaga in power there, but the administration in Kamakura was from the beginning characterized by its rebelliousness, so the "shōgun"s idea never really worked and actually backfired. The "kantō kubō" era is essentially a struggle for the shogunate between the Kamakura and the Kyoto branches of the Ashikaga clan, because both believed they had a valid claim to power. In the end, Kamakura had to be retaken by force in 1454. The five "kubō" recorded by history, all of Motouji's bloodline, were in order Motouji himself, Ujimitsu, Mitsukane, Mochiuji and Shigeuji. The last "kubō" had to escape to Koga, in today's Ibaraki prefecture, and he and his descendants thereafter became known as the "Koga kubō". According to the Shinpen Kamakurashi, a guide book published in 1685, more than two centuries later the spot where the "kubō"s mansion had been was still left empty by local peasants in the hope he may one day return.