 Murataka was the 5th son of Date Yoshimura, "daimyō" of Sendai Domain and was born in Aoba Castle.In 1742, he was adopted by Date Muratomo, chieftain of the Tome-Date clan, a "hatamoto" branch of the main Date clan, taking the name , and subsequently .In May 1752, he was adopted as heir to Ichinoseki Domain by Tamura Muraaki, and became "daimyō" on the latter's death in September 1755.