The were a 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...

kin group which rose to prominence in the 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....

. Under 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...

, the Ōoka, as hereditary vassels of the Tokugawa clan

Tokugawa clan

The was a powerful daimyo family of Japan. They nominally descended from Emperor Seiwa and were a branch of the Minamoto clan by the Nitta clan. However, the early history of this clan remains a mystery.-History:...

, were classified as one of the fudai

Fudai

was a class of daimyo who were hereditary vassals of the Tokugawa in Edo period Japan. It was primarily the fudai who filled the ranks of the Tokugawa administration.-Origins:...

daimyō clans.

The Ōoka claimed descent from the Kamakura Period

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 shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo....

 kampaku Kujō Tadanori

Kujo 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.-References:...

, settling in Ōoka Village in Yana District of northern 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....

 (in what is now part of the city of Shinshiro, Aichi

Shinshiro, Aichi

is a city located in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. As of February 2011, the city had an estimated population of 49,731 and the population density of 99.7 persons per km². The total area was 499.00 km².-Geography:...

. During the Sengoku period, Ōoka Tadato (1522-1594) was a general in the armies of Matsudaira Hirohada during the Battle of Azukizaka (1564)

Battle of Azukizaka (1564)

The or took place in 1564, when Matsudaira Motoyasu , sought to destroy the growing threat of the Ikkō-ikki, a league of monks, samurai and peasants who were strongly against samurai rule....

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

 to the Kanto 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....

 and was given a small 220 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...

holding in Kōza District

Koza District, Kanagawa

is an administrative district of Japan located in central Kanagawa Prefecture. It currently consists of only one town, Samukawa.- History :Kōza District was one of the ancient subdivisions of Sagami Province, extending from Sagami Bay north to the border of Musashi Province between the Sagami River...

 of Sagami Province

Sagami Province

was an old province in the area that is today the central and western Kanagawa prefecture. It was sometimes called . Sagami bordered on Izu, Musashi, Suruga provinces; and had access to the Pacific Ocean through Sagami Bay...

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

Hiratsuka, Kanagawa

is a city located in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. As of 2010, the city had an estimated population of 259,991 and the density of 3,830 persons per km²...

. His descendants continued to assist 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...

 as hatamoto

Hatamoto

A was a 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, in the Edo period, hatamoto were the upper vassals of the Tokugawa...

.

The clan’s fortunes went into eclipse when Ōoka Tadashina (1667-1710) so displeased Shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi

Tokugawa Tsunayoshi

was the fifth shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty of Japan. He was the younger brother of Tokugawa Ietsuna, thus making him the son of Tokugawa Iemitsu, the grandson of Tokugawa Hidetada, and the great-grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu....

 that he was exiled to Hachijojima

Hachijojima

is a volcanic Japanese island in the Philippine Sea, administered by Tōkyō and located approximately south of the Special Wards of Tōkyō. It is the southernmost and most isolated of the Izu Seven Islands group of the seven northern islands of the Izu archipelago...

 and Ōoka Tadafusa (1650-1696) was forced to commit seppuku

Seppuku

is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. Seppuku was originally reserved only for samurai. Part of the samurai bushido honor code, seppuku was either used voluntarily by samurai to die with honor rather than fall into the hands of their enemies , or as a form of capital punishment...

for killing a retainer of the Shimazu clan

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 clans in contrast with the fudai or insider clans which were hereditary vassals or allies of the Tokugawa clan,The Shimazu were...

 in a brawl.

However, the clan’s fortunes revived under Shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune

Tokugawa Yoshimune

was the eighth shogun 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:...

, with the appointment of the talented Ōoka Tadasuke

Ooka Tadasuke

was a Japanese samurai in the service of the Tokugawa shogunate. During the reign of Tokugawa Yoshimune, as a magistrate of Edo, his roles included chief of police, judge and jury, and Yamada Magistrate prior to his tenure as South Magistrate of Edo...

 to the position of Edo

Edo

, also romanized as Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of the Japanese capital Tokyo, and was the seat of power for the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868...

 Machi-bugyō

Machi-bugyo

were officials of the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo period Japan. Appointments to this prominent office were usually fudai daimyō, but this was amongst the senior administrative posts open to those who were not daimyō...

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

 of Nishi-Ohira Domain

Nishi-Ohira Domain

was a Japanese domain of the Edo period, located in Nukata District Mikawa Province , Japan. It was centered on what is now part of the city of Okazaki, Aichi.-History:...

 (10,000 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 Mikawa Province in 1748. The Ōoka remained at Nishi-Ohira until the Meiji Restoration

Meiji Restoration

The , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, Reform or Renewal, was a chain of events that restored imperial rule to Japan in 1868...

. The final daimyo of Nishi-Ohira Domain, Ōoka Tadataka (1828-1887), was made a viscount

Viscount

A viscount or viscountess is a member of the European nobility whose comital title ranks usually, as in the British peerage, above a baron, below an earl or a count .-Etymology:...

 (shishaku) in the kazoku

Kazoku

The was the hereditary peerage of the Empire of Japan that existed between 1869 and 1947.-Origins:Following the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the ancient court nobility of Kyoto regained some of its lost status...

peerage system in the Meiji period

Meiji period

The , also known as the Meiji era, is a Japanese era which extended from September 1868 through July 1912. This period represents the first half of the Empire of Japan.- Meiji Restoration and the emperor :...

.

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
  Iwatsuki Domain
  The ' was a Japanese domain of the Edo period. Located in Musashi Province , it was headquartered in Iwatsuki Castle.-List of daimyo:*Kōriki clan #Kiyonaga#Masanaga#Tadafusa...
  
    (20,000 koku) in Mutsu province
  Mutsu Province
  was an old province of Japan in the area of Fukushima, Miyagi, Iwate and Aomori prefecture and the municipalities of Kazuno and Kosaka in Akita Prefecture...
  
  , 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
  Boshin War
  The was a civil war in Japan, fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and those seeking to return political power to the imperial court....
  
  and made a viscount (shishaku) in the kazoku peerage system in the Meiji period.