 During the Nara period the area was organized under the Taihō Code with what is now Tsuchiura occupying four districts of Hitachi Province.In 939, during the Heian period, Taira no Masakado lead an uprising against the central government by attacking the provincial capital at Ishioka, a few kilometers to the north of Tsuchiura.During the Kamakura period and the Sengoku period, the area was dominated by several samurai clans.