This castle was built during the Sengoku (warring states, mid-15th to mid-16th C.) period by Kansuke Yamamoto under the orders of Shingen Takeda to prepare for the attack of Kenshin Uesugi. It was a natural fortress that took advantages of the local geography, standing on the riverside of Chikuma River. After Nobuyuki Sanada had moved in from Ueda Castle in the Edo period as the lord of Matsushiro Domain, ten generations of the Sanada family ruled over this land, developing a castle town of 100,000 goku (a unit of assessed crop yields of the land). A major repairment/restoration project was completed in 2004. In mid-April of every year, it becomes a popular cherry blossom viewing spot.