Ōoka Tadasuke

Ōoka Tadasuke (大岡 忠相^?, 1677 – February 3, 1752) 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) prior to his tenure as South Magistrate (Minami Machi-bugyō) of Edo. With the title Echizen no Kami (Governor of Echizen or Lord of the Echizen), he is often known as Ōoka Echizen (大岡越前^?). He was highly respected as an incorruptible judge. In addition, he established the first fire brigade made up of commoners, and the Koishikawa Yojosho (a city hospital). Later, he advanced to the position of jisha bugyō, and subsequently became daimyō of the Nishi-Ōhira Domain (10,000 koku).

Ōoka was born in 1677, but did not come into public notice until he was 35, when he was appointed an obscure judgeship. When he accepted this job, he found out that there was a long–standing boundary dispute between the farmers of the Yamada and Wakayama (Kishū) fiefs. While it was obvious that the Yamada claim was the just one, no previous judge had been fool enough to irritate Yoshimune, Lord of Kishū, as he was very close to the shogun, Tokugawa Ietsugu. However, Ōoka took up the case, and immediately settled it on its merits. Yoshimune was so impressed that when he became shogun five years later, he took the unusual action of promoting Ōoka over hundreds of other candidates, to the important post of machi–bugyō (magistrate) of Edo (old name for Tokyo). The post of machi–bugyō combined the duties of mayor, police chief, judge, and fire marshal.

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