Later, there was a report to the Imperial Court that the fox had been kidnapping women and girls in the Nasuno district (currently the Nasu district in Tochigi Prefecture), and this led the Retired Emperor Toba to organize a force to subdue the nine-tailed fox, responding to the request of SUDO gon no kami Sadanobu, who was the lord of the Nasuno district, to kill the nine-tailed fox.
その後、那須野（現在の栃木県那須郡周辺）で婦女子をさらうなどの行為が宮中へ伝わり、鳥羽上皇はかねてから九尾の狐退治を要請していた那須野領主須藤権守貞信の要請に応え、九尾の狐討伐軍を編成。