Twenty minutes bicycle ride to the west from Matsushiro Castle will get you to Saijozan, where an observatory and a shrine currently remain.
From the observatory, you can see the old battlefield of Kawanakajima. The Battle of Kawanakajima was a five-time battle of two warlords, Kenshin Uesugi and Shingen Takeda, that broke out during the Warring States period. The biggest battle was the fourth, which happened on the field you can see from the observatory. Saijozan is where Kenshin Uesugi is said to have set up his headquarters.
Among the warlords that fought on the front lines as vassals of the Takeda army, one man laid the foundation of the Sanada Family. At the fourth Battle of Kawanakajima, the man played an important role in launching a night attack on the Uesugi army that had their base in Saijozan.
300 years later, after the peaceful Edo period, Saijozan reappears in Sanada Family history. Many Matsushiro feudal lords also participated in the Boshin War, the last civil war in Japan. A shrine was built here to worship those who died in this battle by the last feudal lord of the Matsushiro Clan.
From the Warring States period to the end of the Edo, Saijozan has served to commemorate the beginning and end of the Sanada Family.
