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.