The area centering on Tatebayashi Castle located in Tatebayashi City, Gunma Pref. was a battle field from the Warring States period (1493-1573) to the beginning of the Edo period (1603-1867). The castle is also called “Obiki (dragging tail) Castle,” which derives from a legend that Akai Terumitsu, the founder of the castle, once saved a young fox, and then a white fox, which was an embodiment of Inari, appeared in front of him and showed him where to build a castle by dragging its tail. The exact construction year is unknown but it is said to have been built some time during the 15th century. The castle was first referred to in the written record in 1471, when the Uesugi forces attacked this castle. After that the clans of Uesugi in Echigo (present-day Niigata Pref.), Takeda in Kai (Yamanashi Pref.), and Hojo in Sagami (Kanagawa Pref.) fought repeatedly in three way struggles to capture this castle. Finally in 1590, when Tokugawa Ieyasu marched in the Kanto region, the castle was given to Sakakibara Yasumasa, one of the 4 powerful retainers of Ieyasu. Since then, regarded as the traffic hinge that connected Edo and the Tohoku region and also as the place that produced Shogun, the castle had been resided alternately by the daimyos that were counted as one of the 7 powerful retainers of the Tokugawa Shogunate.