In 1573, just after his father Shingen's death, Takeda Katsuyori had Suwahara Castle built as a base for advancing into Totomi and the Tokaido. But after his crushing defeat at Nagashino in 1575, the castle was soon taken by Ieyasu. The Takeda domain shrank rapidly thereafter until Katsuyori took his own life at Tenmokuzan in 1582, ending the clan. The loss of Suwahara was a symbolic step in that decline.

In 1575, when Takeda Katsuyori was crushed at Nagashino, Tokugawa Ieyasu immediately stormed the Takeda-held Suwahara Castle and renamed it Makino. Using it as a stepping stone, he pressed on to the siege of Takatenjin Castle in 1581, clearing the Takeda from Totomi. The seizure of Suwahara was one of the turning points by which Ieyasu wrested control of the Tokai away from the Takeda.