It was centered around Oka Castle in what is now the city of Taketa, Ōita and was ruled by the tozama daimyō Nakagawa clan for all of its history.

It was also sometimes referred to as Takata Domain (竹田藩, Takata-han) Oka Domain was founded by Nakagawa Hidenari, the son of Nakagawa Kiyohide,who had servedOda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and who had been awarded a 40,000 koku estate centered at Miki Castle in Harima Province.

During the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, he remained loyal to the Eastern Army from the start of the campaign, and after the war, Tokugawa Ieyasu reconfirmed him in his existing holdings.Throughout the Edo period, the Nakagawa clan continued to rule Oka for 13 generations, without any transfer or reduction of territory.

The third daimyō, Nakagawa Hisakiyo, invited the noted scholar Kumazawa Banzan to provide guidance on irrigation projects, increasing the wealth of domain and strengthening its military.

During the Bakumatsu period, the samurai of Oka Domain strongly supported sonnō jōi, however, the 12th daimyō, Nakagawa Hisaaki had been adopted from the Tōdō clan, a strongly pro-Tokugawa clan, and expelled seven of the ringleaders from Oka Domain.