Ōta Terusuke served as a bushō from the Sengoku to Edo periods.  He was a retainer of the Gohōjō clan.

Initially, Terusuke was based along with his older brother, Ōta Yasusuke, in Edo Castle in Musashi Province.  After Yasuske joined Ōta Sukemasa (the lord of Iwatsuki Castle) to collude with the Satomi clan, Terusuke did not follow them.  Instead, he joined with Ōta Ujisuke (the lineal heir of Sukemasa) to expel them.  Thereafter, Terusuke served in the command of Ujisuke, but after Ujisuke died at the Battle of Mifuneyama, he served Ōta Gorō and Ōta Ujifusa (siblings) who were adoptees of the Hōjō clan. 

Terusuke held the title of Uemon-no-sa (Assistant Captain of Outer Palace Guards of the Right Division), but to avoid having it overlap with the title of Hōjō Ujimitsu, he changed it to Bitchū-no-kami (Governor of Bitchū) which had a history of use in the Ōta clan.  Bitchū-no-kami, however, also had a history as a title among members of the Hōjō clan and Terusuke was the only one permitted to use the title in five generations.

During the Conquest of Kōshū, Terusuke was ordered to conduct an offensive operation from Kazusa Province into Shinano Province where the Kai-Takeda held territory, but, while the offensive was stalled, Takigawa Kazumasa from the Oda clan were able to enter Kazusa so Terusuke invited scorn from Hōjō Ujimasa.

After the Conquest of Odawara, Terusuke lost his landholdings.  He received an offer to serve Tokugawa Ieyasu, the lord of the Kantō, but withdrew to his former territory in Yakota in Musashi and lived in seclusion.