Ōta Sukemoto

Ōta Sukemoto (太田 資始, August 28, 1799 – June 20, 1867) was the 5th Ōta daimyō of Kakegawa Domain in Tōtōmi Province, (modern-day Shizuoka Prefecture) in late-Edo period and Bakumatsu period Japan and a high-level office holder within the Tokugawa shogunate.^[1] His courtesy title was Dewa-no-kami.

Biography

Ōta Sukemoto was the third son of Hotta Masazane, the daimyō of Omi-Miyagawa Domain. He married the daughter of Ōta Suketoki, and was adopted as head of the Ōta clan and daimyō of Kakegawa Domain on Suketoki’s death in 1810. At the time, he was only eleven years old.

Under Shogun Tokugawa Ienari, he was appointed as Jisha-bugyō on July 17, 1822 and Osaka jōdai on November 22, 1828, followed by the post of Kyoto Soshidai (official Shogunal representative to the Court in Kyoto from July 4, 1831 through May 19, 1834).^[1]

On May 6, 1837 Ōta Sukemoto became a Rōjū (Senior Councilor), in which position he often clashed with senior Rōjū Mizuno Tadakuni over the provisions of the unpopular Tenpo Reform, especially the Agechi-rei which was to have daimyō in the vicinity of Edo and Ōsaka surrender their holdings for equal amounts of land elsewhere, thereby consolidating Tokugawa control over these strategically vital areas. After Mizuno was deposed from office, Sukemoto promoted the interests of Tokugawa Nariaki. However, one of Nariaki’ first actions was to replace Sukemoto, who was asked to retire on July 20, 1841.^[2]

On his forced retirement, Sukemoto turned Kakegawa domain over to his eldest son Ōta Sukekatsu. However upon Shogun Tokugawa Ienari’s death, he returned to serve as rōjū again from June 23, 1858 through July 23, 1859 together with Matsudaira Noriyasu and Manabe Akikatsu.^[3] He returned again for a brief third term from April 27-May 14, 1863.

Sukemoto died on June 20, 1867. His grave is at the Ōta clan temple of Myōhokke-ji in Mishima, Shizuoka.

Notes

References

• Appert, Georges and H. Kinoshita. (1888). Ancien Japon. Tokyo: Imprimerie Kokubunsha.
• Jansen, Marius B. (1995). The Emergence of Meiji Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-48405-7
• Meyer, Eva-Maria. (1999). Japans Kaiserhof in de Edo-Zeit: Unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Jahre 1846 bis 1867. Münster: Tagenbuch. ISBN 3-8258-3939-7
• Papinot, Edmund. (1906) Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie du japon. Tokyo: Librarie Sansaisha...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.