was a

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and n ...

during early-

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. His courtesy title was '' Bitchu no Kami.''

Biography

Ōta Sukemune was the second son of Ōta Shigemasa, a

Sengoku period The was a period in History of Japan, Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the ...

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

descended from

Ōta Dōkan , also known as Ōta Sukenaga (太田資長) or Ōta Dōkan Sukenaga, was a Japanese ''samurai'' warrior-poet, military tactician and Buddhist monk. Ōta Sukenaga took the tonsure (bald scalp) as a Buddhist priest in 1478, and he also adopted t ...

, who entered into the service of

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fellow ...

after the fall of the Go-Hōjō clan in 1590. Shigemasa's elder sister, Eisho-in, later became one of Ieyasu's

concubine Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between a man and a woman in which the couple does not want, or cannot enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar but mutually exclusive. Concubi ...

s. When Sukemune was seven years old in 1606, he was introduced to Tokugawa Ieyasu in a formal audience. On the death of his father in 1610, he was confirmed as head of the Ōta clan and inherited his father's holdings of 5,600 ''

koku The is a Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume. 1 koku is equivalent to 10 or approximately , or about . It converts, in turn, to 100 shō and 1000 gō. One ''gō'' is the volume of the "rice cup", the plastic measuring cup that is supplied ...

'' in the

Kantō region The is a geographical area of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. In a common definition, the region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures: Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Saitama, Tokyo, Chiba and Kanagawa. Slight ...

. In 1615, he received the courtesy title of '' Settsu-no-kami'' and lower 5th Court Rank. He continued in Ieyasu's service, receiving various minor commissions within the hierarchy of the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

, and in 1633 became one of the first group of ''

wakadoshiyori The ', or "Junior Elders", were high government officials in the Edo period Japan under the Tokugawa shogunate (1603-1867). The position was established around 1633, but appointments were irregular until 1662. The four to six ''wakadoshiyori'' we ...

''. In 1635, Sukemune was rewarded with properties in

Shimotsuke Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today Tochigi Prefecture.Louis-Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''SHimotsuke''" in . Shimotsuke was bordered by Kōzuke Province, Kōzuke, Hitachi Province, ...

with an assessed value of 10,000 ''koku'', which (when added to his existing 5,600 ''koku'') enabled him to become daimyō of the newly created

Yamakawa Domain Yamakawa (characters for "mountain" and "river") may refer to: * Yamakawa, Tokushima, town in Oe District, Tokushima *Yamakawa, Fukuoka, town in Yamato District, Fukuoka * 8923 Yamakawa, asteroid People with the surname * Erika Yamakawa (born 1982 ...

. His courtesy title was changed at that time to ''Bitchu-no-kami''. In 1638, Yamakawa Domain was suppressed when Sukemune was transferred to

Nishio Domain was a feudal domain of the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in former Mikawa Province, in what is now the modern-day city of Nishio in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. It was centered on Nishio Castle. History When Tokugawa Ieyasu be ...

Mikawa Province was an old province in the area that today forms the eastern half of Aichi Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Mikawa''" in . Its abbreviated form name was . Mikawa bordered on Owari, Mino, Shinano, and Tōtōmi Provinces. Mik ...

with an increase in revenues to 35,000 ''koku''. From 1641–1643, he was appointed a ''

bugyō was a title assigned to ''samurai'' officials during the feudal period of Japan. ''Bugyō'' is often translated as commissioner, magistrate, or governor, and other terms would be added to the title to describe more specifically a given official' ...

'' overseeing the work of noted

Confucian Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a Religious Confucianism, religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, ...

scholar

Hayashi Razan , also known as Hayashi Dōshun, was a Japanese Neo-Confucianism, Neo-Confucian philosopher and writer, serving as a tutor and an advisor to the first four ''shōguns'' of the Tokugawa shogunate, Tokugawa ''bakufu''. He is also attributed with f ...

. In 1644, Sukemune was transferred to

Hamamatsu Domain was a Japanese domain of the Edo period, located in Tōtōmi Province. It was centered on what is now Hamamatsu Castle in what is now the city of Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture. Hamamatsu was the residence of Tokugawa Ieyasu for much of his ea ...

, a more prestigious posting, but with the same revenue rating of 35,000 ''koku''. He retired from public life in 1671, leaving the domain to his second son,

Ōta Suketsugu was a ''daimyō'' during early-Edo period Japan. His courtesy title was '' Settsu-no-kami.'' Biography Ōta Suketsugu was the second son of Ōta Sukemune, the daimyō of Hamamatsu Domain. His elder brother Ōta Sukemasa entered the service of ' ...

. Sukemune was married to an adopted daughter of

Itakura Shigemune was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the early Edo period.Meyer, Eva-Maria"Gouverneure von Kyôto in der Edo-Zeit". Universität Tübingen (in German). Shigemune's daimyō family claimed descent from the Shibukawa branch of the Seiwa Genji. The Itaku ...

, the ''

Kyoto Shoshidai The was an important administrative and political office in the Tokugawa shogunate. The office was the personal representative of the military dictators Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi in Kyoto, the seat of the Japanese Emperor, and was adop ...

''.

References

* Papinot, Edmund. (1906) ''Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie du japon.'' Tokyo: Librarie Sansaish
..Click link for digitized 1906 ''Nobiliaire du japon'' (2003)
* ''The content of much of this article was derived from that of the corresponding article on Japanese Wikipedia.'' , - , - Fudai daimyo Sukemune Wakadoshiyori 1600 births 1680 deaths {{daimyo-stub