was a daimyō

Daimyo

is a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in pre-modern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...

 during early-Edo period

Edo period

The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....

 Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. His courtesy title was Bitchu no Kami.

Biography

Ōta Sukemune was the second son of Ōta Shigemasa, a Sengoku period

Sengoku period

The or Warring States period in Japanese history was a time of social upheaval, political intrigue, and nearly constant military conflict that lasted roughly from the middle of the 15th century to the beginning of the 17th century. The name "Sengoku" was adopted by Japanese historians in reference...

 samurai

Samurai

is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...

 descendent from Ōta Dōkan

Ota Dokan

, also known as Ōta Sukenaga or Ōta Dōkan Sukenaga, was a Japanese samurai warrior-poet, military tactician and Buddhist monk. Ōta Sukenaga took the tonsure as a Buddhist priest in 1478, and he also adopted the Buddhist name, Dōkan, by which is known today...

, who entered into the service of Tokugawa Ieyasu

Tokugawa Ieyasu

 was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan , which ruled from the Battle of Sekigahara  in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Ieyasu seized power in 1600, received appointment as shogun in 1603, abdicated from office in 1605, but...

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

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

Ota clan

The was a Japanese samurai clan descended from the Seiwa Genji. The Ota are best known as daimyō of territories on Kyūshū during the Edo period ....

 and inherited his father’s holdings of 5,600 koku

Koku

The is a Japanese unit of volume, equal to ten cubic shaku. In this definition, 3.5937 koku equal one cubic metre, i.e. 1 koku is approximately 278.3 litres. The koku was originally defined as a quantity of rice, historically defined as enough rice to feed one person for one year...

in the Kantō region

Kanto region

The is a geographical area of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. The region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures: Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Saitama, Tokyo, Chiba, and Kanagawa. Within its boundaries, slightly more than 40 percent of the land area is the Kantō Plain....

. 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

Tokugawa shogunate

The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...

, and in 1633 became one the first group of wakadoshiyori

Wakadoshiyori

The ', or "Junior Elders", were high government officials in 17th century Tokugawa Japan. The position was established around 1631, but appointments were irregular until 1662....

.

In 1635, Sukemune was rewarded with properties in Shimotsuke Province

Shimotsuke Province

is an old province of Japan in the area of Tochigi Prefecture in the Kanto region. It was sometimes called or .The ancient capital of the province was near the city of Tochigi, but in feudal times the main center of the province was near the modern capital, Utsunomiya.-History:Different parts of...

 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. 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

Nishio Domain

was a Japanese domain of the Edo period, 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:...

 in Mikawa Province

Mikawa Province

is an old province in the area that today forms the eastern half of Aichi Prefecture. It was sometimes called . Mikawa bordered on Owari, Mino, Shinano, and Tōtōmi Provinces....

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

Bugyo

', often translated as "commissioner" or "magistrate" or "governor," was a title assigned to government officers in pre-modern Japan; other terms would be added to the title to describe more specifically a given commissioner's tasks or jurisdiction....

overseeing the work of noted Confucian

Neo-Confucianism

Neo-Confucianism is an ethical and metaphysical Chinese philosophy influenced by Confucianism, that was primarily developed during the Song Dynasty and Ming Dynasty, but which can be traced back to Han Yu and Li Ao in the Tang Dynasty....

 scholar Hayashi Razan

Hayashi Razan

, also known as Hayashi Dōshun, was a Japanese Neo-Confucian philosopher, serving as a tutor and an advisor to the first four shoguns of the Tokugawa bakufu. He is also attributed with first listing the Three Views of Japan. Razan was the founder of the Hayashi clan of Confucian scholars.Razan was...

.

In 1644, Sukemune was transferred to Hamamatsu Domain

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....

, 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

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 Sukemasa entered the service of Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu at an early age, but was disinherited in 1651 by...

.

Sukemune was married to an adopted daughter of Itakura Shigemune

Itakura Shigemune

was a Japanese daimyo of the early Edo period. Shigemune's daimyō family claimed descent from the Shibukawa branch of the Seiwa-Genji. The Itakura identified its clan origins in Mikawa province. The descendants of Itakura Katsushige, including the descendants of his eldest son Shigemune, were...

, the Kyoto Shoshidai

Kyoto Shoshidai

The was an important administrative and political office in the early modern government of Japan. However, the significance and effectiveness of the office is credited to the third Tokugawa shogun, Iemitsu, who developed these initial creations as bureaucratic elements in a consistent and...

.