The location was on a gentle slope in the flatlands of the Kōfu Basin, and was considered indefensible by contemporary standards, which dictated that fortifications be built on mountains.

The western enclosure is 100 by 200 meters, and was a public area for the administration of the domain, with "umadashi"-style two-story fortified gates to the north and south.

[5][6] Tsutsujigasaki continued to serve as the principal residence of Takeda Shingen after he deposed his father in 1540.

The Takeda clan was extinguished by the coalition forces of Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu in February 1582.

The Kai Province then came under the direct control of the Tokugawa clan and with the completion of the nearby Kōfu Castle in 1594, the site was abandoned.