During the fierce Warring States Period, the east side of the castle was the rapidly rising power of Oda Nobunaga, and the west side was the Maori power that had long dominated the local area. Caught between these two forces, they were forced to make a decision on which side to surrender to. Kuroda Jishui (Kanbei), the elder of the family in the castle and known for his wisdom and scheming, identified the Oda family and was sent to Nobunaga to make contact, thus getting acquainted with Hashiba Hideyoshi and Takenaka Kanbei. This is how the gears of Kuroda's fate began to turn.
