Following the Onin War, the weakened Muromachi shogunate was unable to exert control over the Hokuriku region, much of which came under the control of the Jōdo Shinshū-led Ikkō-ikki movement led by the priest Rennyo, who abolished the local feudal rulers and social structure to create a semi-theocratic "peasant's republic".

However, the movement was strongly opposed by Oda Nobunaga, who invaded Kaga after successfully seizing neighbouring Echizen Province in 1573.

The Ikkō-ikki leadership at Hongan-ji responded by sending a commander named Suzuki Dewa-no-kami (about whom little is known) to organise the resistance to Nobunaga in around 1580.

The inner bailey is located on the highest part of the ridge, and is a rectangular area with dimensions of 50 x 20 meters with a fortified two-story gate and yagura turrets.

This meant that they were now isolated, and thus when the Oda general Shibata Katsuie invited a parley, Suzuki Dewa-No-Mami accepted his offer and went to his castle for negotiations.

The following year, Shibata moved his army to Kanazawa, and the local Ikkō-ikki partisans of the Hakusan area seized the opportunity to retake Torigoe and Futoge Castles, killing the Shibata-appointed commanders.