Kamiina

Kamiina, the upper Ina country of Shinano, included Takato, a stronghold controlling approaches between the Suwa basin and the Ina valley. Takato Castle stood on a river terrace above the confluence of the Mibu and Fujisawa rivers. The Takato family, a branch of the Suwa, exercised local authority from around the fourteenth century.

Takeda Shingen took the castle during his expansion into Shinano and remodelled it in 1547. His relatives, including Katsuyori and Nishina Morinobu, subsequently held it. In March 1582, Morinobu resisted Oda Nobutada's army; the castle fell and he died. The destruction of the Takeda and Oda Nobunaga's death soon afterwards reopened the struggle for the district. Hoshina Masanao secured Takato with Hojo assistance before entering Tokugawa Ieyasu's service. Early Edo reconstruction reorganised both castle and town, incorporating the older temple settlement into a renewed urban layout.