Near the old castle in Saiki town, Oita Prefecture, there still exists a group of samurai residences dating back to the time when the area belonged to the Saiki Domain.

The Saiki Domain was founded in 1601 (Keicho 6), when the first domain lord, Takamasa Mori, moved here from his former territory of Hita, Bungo-nokuni. As the new site in the Togamurejo area was relatively inconvenient, they moved again to Hachiman-yama in Bungo-nokuni, where they built Tsuruya Castle at the mouth of the Bansho River. When this castle burned down in 1617 (Ganwa 3), the domain used the Sannomaru, at the foot of the mountain, as their castle. Samurai residences for the domain retainers were built at this time.

Today, the samurai residences around the Shiroyama area suggest the old atmosphere of the Edo period. In 1893 (Meiji 26), Doppo Kunikida, who came here to teach at the Tsuruya Gakkan, stayed with his brother at a samurai residence called Sakamoto-Tei. Now the Sakamoto-Tei is opened to the public as the Kunikida Doppo House of Saiki Castle Town.