during the edo period in japan, the territory of modern katsuyama city belonged to the echizen-katsuyama domain (region). during that time, the city was planning to build a "tenshu". however, for different reasons, such as the laws that were in place at that time, the city was never able to finish it. kiyoshi tada, who was born in katsuyama and who was the founder of sōgōtakushi, a taxi company that is nowadays divided into many different taxi companies, decided to build a castle, and put into life the long wish of people for a "tenshu". instead of a usual castle he built a museum that looks like a castle, where different items from his own collection are displayed nowadays, including various samurai armor, swords, and traditional folding screens. the museum was built close to another gift to katsuyama from kiyoshi tada--"echizen daibutsu", a complex of buildings built in a traditional japanese style with a huge buddha statue in it. the cost of construction was 10 billion yen.