The was one of a series of battles fought in the far north of Japan's main island of Honshū (the Tōhoku region) contemporaneous with the famous and decisive campaigns between Tokugawa Ieyasu and Ishida Mitsunari further south. Over the course of the year 1600, Naoe Kanetsugu, a general loyal to Ishida Mitsunari, would lead a campaign in Tōhoku, which included the siege of Hasedō castle, near Yamagata, which was his ultimate goal. Hasedō was held by Shimura Takaharu, and backed by a Tokugawa-loyal army of the Date clan.