Born a son of Ōta Sukekiyo, chief retainer of the Ōgigayatsu Uesugi in the Kantō; his name was Sukenaga. Bright from childhood, he reportedly studied at temples in Kamakura.
The Kyōtoku War broke out between the Kamakura deputy and the Uesugi, Kantō deputies of the shogun, plunging the Kantō into some thirty years of war. The young Sukenaga fought alongside his father.
He built a castle at Edo in Musashi, a defensible site on the sea and rivers with good communications. Tokugawa Ieyasu later made it his base, and it became the heart of today's Tokyo.
He held a poetry contest at Edo Castle. A warrior gifted at waka, he also corresponded with Kyoto men of culture.
Nagao Kageharu, a retainer of the Yamanouchi Uesugi, rebelled. Dōkan raced across the Kantō, winning more than thirty battles to crush the revolt, reportedly using new tactics with foot soldiers (ashigaru).
He defeated the Toshima, Kageharu's allies, at Ekodahara, bringing much of present-day Tokyo under his control.
A tale from around this time—a legend spread in the Edo period—says that when a farm girl offered him a kerria flower instead of a raincoat, he was ashamed not to grasp its allusion to an old poem and set himself to study waka.
His lord Uesugi Sadamasa, fearing his growing fame, invited him to his Kasuya residence in Sagami and had him struck down as he left the bath. Dōkan reportedly cried out that the house was doomed—and indeed the Ōgigayatsu Uesugi soon declined.
SesshūSōgiAsakura Takakage (Toshikage)Hosokawa KatsumotoAshikaga YoshimasaAshikaga YoshimiHino TomikoHatakeyama Masanaga
People of the Muromachi period ・ People by period
Based on facts found in textbooks and biographies. Uncertain points are marked as such.