The were a ''

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 ...

'' kin group which rose to prominence in the

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 ...

. Under 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 ...

, the Ōoka, as hereditary vassals of the

Tokugawa clan The is a Japanese dynasty that was formerly a powerful ''daimyō'' family. They nominally descended from Emperor Seiwa (850–880) and were a branch of the Minamoto clan (Seiwa Genji) through the Matsudaira clan. The early history of this clan r ...

, were classified as one of the '' fudai'' ''daimyō'' clans.Appert, Georges. (1888)
''Ancien Japon,'' p. 75
/ref> The Ōoka claimed descent from the

Kamakura Period The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle bet ...

'' kampaku''

Kujō Tadanori , son of regent Tadaie, was a '' kugyō'' or Japanese court noble of the Kamakura period. He held a regent position kampaku from 1291 to 1293. Moronori and Fusazane were his sons. Family * Father: Kujō Tadaie * Mother: Sanjō Kinfusa’s daug ...

, settling in Ōoka Village in Yana District of northern

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 ...

(in what is now part of the city of

Shinshiro, Aichi is a city located in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 44,581 in 17,691 households, and a population density of 89.3 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Shinshiro is located in east-cent ...

. During the Sengoku period, Ōoka Tadato (1522–1594) was a general in the armies of Matsudaira Hirohada during the

Battle of Azukizaka (1564) The or took place in 1564, when Matsudaira Motoyasu (later renamed Tokugawa Ieyasu), sought to destroy the growing threat of the Ikkō-ikki, a league of monks, samurai, and peasants who were strongly against samurai rule. Background Tensions bet ...

. His son Ōoka Tadamasa (1548–1629) subsequently accompanied

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 ...

to 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 ...

and was given a small 220 ''

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 ...

'' holding in Kōza District of

Sagami Province was a province of Japan located in what is today the central and western Kanagawa Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Kanagawa''" at . Sagami Province bordered the provinces of Izu, Musashi, and Suruga. It had access to the Paci ...

, which he gradually built up into 600 ''koku'' in what is now part of the city of

Hiratsuka, Kanagawa 260px, Hiratsuka City Hall is a city located in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 257,316 and a population density of 3800 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Hiratsuka is located in t ...

. His descendants continued to assist the

as ''

hatamoto A was a high ranking samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan. While all three of the shogunates in Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred to as ''gokenin.'' However ...

.'' The clan’s fortunes went into eclipse when Ōoka Tadashina (1667–1710) so displeased Shōgun

Tokugawa Tsunayoshi was the fifth ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa dynasty of Japan. He was the younger brother of Tokugawa Ietsuna, as well as the son of Tokugawa Iemitsu, the grandson of Tokugawa Hidetada, and the great-grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu.Nussbaum, Louis-Fr ...

that he was exiled to Hachijojima and Ōoka Tadafusa (1650–1696) was forced to commit ''

seppuku , sometimes referred to as hara-kiri (, , a native Japanese kun reading), is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. It was originally reserved for samurai in their code of honour but was also practised by other Japanese people ...

'' for killing a retainer of the

Shimazu clan The were the ''daimyō'' of the Satsuma han, which spread over Satsuma, Ōsumi and Hyūga provinces in Japan. The Shimazu were identified as one of the '' tozama'' or outsider ''daimyō'' familiesAppert, Georges ''et al.'' (1888). in contrast ...

in a brawl. However, the clan’s fortunes revived under Shōgun

Tokugawa Yoshimune was the eighth ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, ruling from 1716 until his abdication in 1745. He was the son of Tokugawa Mitsusada, the grandson of Tokugawa Yorinobu, and the great-grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Lineage Yoshimune ...

, with the appointment of the talented

Ōoka Tadasuke was a Japanese samurai in the service of the Tokugawa shogunate. During the reign of Tokugawa Yoshimune, as a magistrate (''machi-bugyō'') of Edo, his roles included chief of police, judge and jury, and Yamada Magistrate ( Yamada bugyō) prio ...

to the position of

Edo Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...

Machi-bugyō were ''samurai'' officials of the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo period Japan, this was amongst the senior administrative posts open to those who were not ''daimyō''.Beasley, William G. (1955). ''Select Documents on Japanese Foreign Policy, 1853–186 ...

. Tadasuke performed his duties with brilliance, and was awarded with promotions within the Tokugawa bureaucracy, cumulating in the position of

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 ...

of Nishi-Ohira Domain (10,000 ''

'' ) in Mikawa Province in 1748. The Ōoka remained at Nishi-Ohira until the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

."Miyake-shi" on Harimaya.com
/ref> The final daimyō of Nishi-Ohira Domain, Ōoka Tadataka (1828–1887), was made a

viscount A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicial ...

(''shishaku'') in the ''

kazoku The was the hereditary peerage of the Empire of Japan, which existed between 1869 and 1947. They succeeded the feudal lords () and court nobles (), but were abolished with the 1947 constitution. Kazoku ( 華族) should not be confused with ' ...

'' peerage system in the

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

Cadet lines

* A cadet branch was created in 1751 for Ōoka Tadamitsu (1709–1760), a distant relative of Ōoka Tadasuke. Starting as a 300 ''koku'' ''hatamoto'', Ōoka Tadamitsu provided close assistance to Ōoka Tadasuke and rose rapidly through ranks. He was assigned

Iwatsuki Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, in Musashi Province (modern-day Saitama Prefecture), Japan. It was centered on Iwatsuki Castle in what is now part of Iwatsuki-ku, Saitama. History Iwatsuki was an importa ...

(20,000 ''koku'') in

Musashi province was a province of Japan, which today comprises Tokyo Metropolis, most of Saitama Prefecture and part of Kanagawa Prefecture. It was sometimes called . The province encompassed Kawasaki and Yokohama. Musashi bordered on Kai, Kōzuke, Sagami, S ...

, where his descendants remained until the Meiji Restoration. The final daimyō of Iwatsuki, Ōoka Tadatsura (1847–1920) sided with the pro-imperial forces in the

Boshin War The , sometimes known as the Japanese Revolution or Japanese Civil War, was a civil war in Japan fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and a clique seeking to seize political power in the name of the Imperi ...

and made a viscount (''shishaku'') in the ''kazoku'' peerage system in the Meiji period.

References

Notes

* Appert, Georges and H. Kinoshita. (1888)
''Ancien Japon.''
Tokyo: Imprimerie Kokubunsha. * Papinot, Edmund. (1906) ''Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie du japon.'' Tokyo: Librarie Sansaish
..Click link for digitized 1906 ''Nobiliaire du japon'' (2003)

External links

(24 March 2008) {{DEFAULTSORT:Ooka clan Japanese clans