Maruoka Castle
In 1576, Katsutoyo Shibata tried to build Maruoka Castle, but it had collapsed many times. Therefore, he received a proposal to stabilize the castle by putting a human pillar in the castle tower. The person chosen as the human pillar was one-eyed Oshizu, who was a woman living a difficult life with two children. Oshizu offered Katsutoyo that one of her children would serve as a samurai in the future, and she decided to become the human pillar on that condition. Although the castle was completed, Oshizu’s children could not be a samurai because Katsutoyo was transferred elsewhere. Oshizu’s spirit resented this, so it rains a lot every April. People call this “Oshizu’s Tears”, and they built a grave of her to console her spirit. This story is fiction, but it is one of the most famous stories of Maruoka Castle.