Background
Tadasuke Ōoka was born in 1677. In early life he used the given names Tadayoshi and Kumema, later changing to Iclii- juro and Tadaemon. He was adopted by Tadazane, a member of his father’s family.
大岡 忠相
Tadasuke Ōoka was born in 1677. In early life he used the given names Tadayoshi and Kumema, later changing to Iclii- juro and Tadaemon. He was adopted by Tadazane, a member of his father’s family.
In 1700 he inherited the family estate, and some years later became kachi-gashira (“head of the foot-soldiers,” a shogunate post). In 1712 he was appointed bugyo (magistrate) of Yamada, in which capacity he judged a boundary dispute between the clans of Yamada in Ise and Matsuzaka in Kii, deciding against Matsuzaka but thereby gaining the favor of Yoshimune, the lord of Kii. In 1716 he became fushin bugyo (supervisor of construction and civil engineering works for the shogunate), then the following year was promoted to bugyo of Edo and given the title Echizen-no-kami. In his new post he set about the task of putting the criminal code down in writing, and worked towards the establishment of the Edo guilds of firefighters.
In later years he was again promoted to bugyo of shrines and temples, and his annual stipend was increased to a total of 10,000 koku, which placed him on a level with the daimyo. His official headquarters was at Nishi Tahei in the province of Mikawa. He was renowned as a judge and is the subject of many, probably apocryphal, anecdotes, though his fairness at least is witnessed by his verdict in the Ise-Kii case. In recent years his journal of his official duties has been discovered and published.