Sarashina

Sarashina lies in northern Shinano, near the confluence of the Chikuma and Sai rivers. The plain between these waterways, known as Kawanakajima, became a battlefield in the rivalry between Takeda Shingen of Kai and Uesugi Kenshin of Echigo. Their forces faced one another repeatedly between 1553 and 1564; the fourth encounter, in 1561, was especially fierce and became one of the best-known battles of Japan's age of warring states.