Serada Toshogu Shrine is located in the Town of Serata, City of Ota, Gunma Prefecture. The reason why there is a Toshogu Shrine in the town of Serata is because it has been said that the ground of Serada is the birthplace of the Tokugawa Clan. That’s why the Toshogu Shrine was built in 1644. When the third Shogun of Tokugawa dynasty, Tokugawa Iemitsu, re-built the main buildings of the Nikko Toshogu Shrine in order to make it magnificent, several buildings from the Nikko Toshogu Shrine were moved to the Serada Toshogu Shrine. The foundation building of the Nikko Toshogu Shrine, which was built by the second Shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty, Tokugawa Hidetaka, as well as the Haiden (worship hall), Karamon (traditional gate) and a mausoleum (it did not hold Tokugawa’s body) were also transferred to the Serada Toshogu Shrine. There are many Toshogu Shrines in Japan, but the Serada Toshogu Shrine was chosen and the buildings were transferred from among several Toshogu Shrines. The story describes the town of Serada as the birthplace of the Tokugawa clan and it was considered a very important place.

The genealogy of the Tokugawa family:Minamoto no Yoshishige (1135-1202), grandson of Minamoto no Yoshiie (1041–1108), was the first to take the name of Nitta. He sided with his cousin, Minamoto no Yoritomo, against the Taira Clan in 1180 and accompanied him to Kamakura. Nitta Yoshisue, 4th son of Yoshishige, settled in Tokugawa (Kozuke Province) and took the name of that location. Their provincial history book did not mention the Minamoto Clan or Nitta Clan.

The nominal originator of the Matsudaira Clan was reportedly Matsudaira Chikauji, who was originally a poor Buddhist monk. He reportedly descended from Nitta Yoshisue in the 8th generation and witnessed the ruin of the Nitta Clan in their war against the Ashikaga Clan. He settled at Matsudaira (Mikawa Province; the former name of the current Shizuoka Prefecture) and was adopted by his wife’s family. Matsudaira Nobumitsu (15th century), son of Chikauji, was in charge of the Okazaki Castle, and strengthened the authority of his family in the Mikawa Province. Nobumitsu’s great great grandson, Matsudaira Kiyoyasu, made his clan strong but was assassinated.
Matsudaira Hirotada was also assassinated, and in 1567, his son, Ieyasu (1542–1616), obtained permission from the Emperor to revive the Tokugawa name. In doing so, he claimed descent from the Minamoto clan.