is a city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It has been one of the largest and most important

seaport A port is a maritime law, maritime facility comprising one or more Wharf, wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge Affreightment, cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can a ...

s of Japan since the medieval era. Sakai is known for its keyhole-shaped burial mounds, or kofun, which date from the fifth century and include

Daisen Kofun The are a group of '' kofun'' ()—megalithic tombs—in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. Originally consisting of more than 100 tombs, only less than 50% of the key-hole, round, and rectangular tombs remain. The , the largest ''kofun'' in ...

, the largest grave in the world by area. Once known for

swords A sword is a cutting and/or thrusting weapon. Sword, Swords, or The Sword may also refer to: Places * Swords, Dublin, a large suburban town in the Irish capital * Swords, Georgia, a community in the United States * Sword Beach, code name for th ...

, Sakai is now famous for the quality of its

cutlery Cutlery (also referred to as silverware, flatware, or tableware), includes any hand implement used in preparing, serving, and especially eating food in Western culture. A person who makes or sells cutlery is called a cutler. The city of Sheffie ...

. , the city had an estimated population of 819,965, making it the fourteenth most populous city in Japan (excluding Tokyo).

Geography

Sakai is located in southern Osaka Prefecture, on the edge of

Osaka Bay Osaka Bay (大阪湾 ''Ōsaka-wan'' ) is a bay in western Japan. As an eastern part of the Seto Inland Sea, it is separated from the Pacific Ocean by the Kii Channel and from the neighbor western part of the Inland Sea by the Akashi Strait ...

and directly south of the city of

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

Neighboring municipalities

Osaka Prefecture *

* Matsubara * Habikino * Ōsakasayama *

Kawachinagano is a city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 101,649 in 47493 households and a population density of 930 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Kawachinagano is located in the so ...

Izumi , meaning "spring" or "fountain", is a Japanese given name and surname. While a unisex name, it is more commonly used by women. It can alternately be written as , , , or . People with the name include: As given name * , actress * , stage name Mi ...

* Takaishi

Climate

Sakai has a Humid subtropical climate (Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall. The average annual temperature in Sakai is . The average annual rainfall is with June as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in January, at around .

Demographics

According to Japanese census data, the population of Sakai increased rapidly in the 1960s and 1970s, and has been relatively stable since.

History

Origins

The area that would later become known as Sakai has been inhabited since approximately 8,000 BC. Sakai is known for its keyhole-shaped burial mounds, or kofun, which date from the 5th century. The largest of these, Daisen Kofun, is believed to be the grave of the

Emperor Nintoku , also known as was the 16th Emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. Due to his reputation for goodness derived from depictions in the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, he is sometimes referred to as the . While his existence ...

and is the largest grave in the world by area. During the Kofun period between 300 and 500 AD, the Mozu Tumulus Cluster was built from over one hundred burial mounds. The name "Sakai" appears in Fujiwara Sadoyori's poetry by 1045. Most of the current city is located within ancient

Izumi Province :''The characters ''泉州'' are also used for the name of the Chinese city of Quanzhou''. was a province of Japan in the area of southern Osaka Prefecture. Tango bordered on Kii to the south, Yamato and Kawachi to the west, and Settsu ...

; however, the wards of Mihara, Higashi and a portion of Kita are located within ancient Kawachi Province. Tradition holds that 10,000 homes burned to the ground in 1399. File:Daisenryo Kofun haisho-3.jpg,

File:Daisenryo Kofun zenkei-2.jpg, Mozu Tombs File:Ohtori shrine004.jpg, Ōtori taisha File:Yamato Takeru(bronze statue,Osaka)01.jpg,

Yamato Takeru , originally , was a Japanese semi-legendary prince of the Yamato dynasty, son of Emperor Keikō, who is traditionally counted as the 12th Emperor of Japan. His name written in kanji can vary, in the '' Nihon Shoki'' it is spelled 日本武尊 a ...

Middle Ages

Medieval Sakai was an autonomous city run by merchant oligarchs. During the

Muromachi The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by t ...

and

Sengoku period The was a period in Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the feudal system of Japan under the Ashikaga shogunate. Variou ...

s from about 1450 to 1600, Sakai developed into one of richest cities in Japan as a port for foreign trade. It was a leading producer of textiles and ironwork.The Oxford Handbook of Cities in World History edited by Peter Clark https://books.google.com/books?id=z09oAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA331&lpg=PA331&dq=Gaspar+Vilela+sakai+consuls In those days, it was said that the richest cities were ''Umi no Sakai, Riku no Imai'' (tr. "along the sea, Sakai; inlands, Imai"; the latter is now a part of

Kashihara, Nara is a city located in Nara Prefecture, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 124,829, with 52,034 households. Population density is around 3,176.79 persons per km2, and the total area is 39.52 km2. The city was founded on Febr ...

). The famous

Zen Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...

Buddhist priest Ikkyū chose to live in Sakai because of its free atmosphere. The first reliable account of the city is dated to the 1480s and contains publicly issued legal notices, which suggests that the city had a governing council at that point. By the 1530s, the population was around 40,000 residents, almost all of which earned a living through commercial enterprises and some of whom were the wealthiest people in Japan. At this time, Sakai was administered by an oligarchy of powerful merchants. The government had ten divisions ''machi'' that were subordinate to the representative council of wealthy townsmen known as the ''egoshu''.An Introduction to the History of Japan by Katsuro Hara https://books.google.com/books?id=k-lBAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA241&lpg=PA241&dq=sakai+japan+autonomous+merchant

Sen no Rikyū , also known simply as Rikyū, is considered the historical figure with the most profound influence on ''chanoyu,'' the Japanese "Way of Tea", particularly the tradition of ''wabi-cha''. He was also the first to emphasize several key aspects o ...

, known as the greatest master of the

tea ceremony An East Asian tea ceremony, or ''Chádào'' (), or ''Dado'' ( ko, 다도 (茶道)), is a ceremonially ritualized form of making tea (茶 ''cha'') practiced in East Asia by the Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans. The tea ceremony (), literally transl ...

, was originally a merchant of Sakai. Because of the close relationship between the tea ceremony and

Zen Buddhism Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...

and because of the prosperity of its citizens, Sakai was one of the main centers of the

in Japan. In the Sengoku period, Christian missionaries, including

Francis Xavier Francis Xavier (born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta; Latin: ''Franciscus Xaverius''; Basque: ''Frantzisko Xabierkoa''; French: ''François Xavier''; Spanish: ''Francisco Javier''; Portuguese: ''Francisco Xavier''; 7 April 15063 December ...

in 1550, visited Sakai and documented its prosperity. Gaspar Vilela described the town as the safest place in the area when he visited in 1561. He also mentioned that the city was "governed by consuls like Venice in Italy". After the coming of Europeans, Sakai became a manufacturing base of matchlock firearms and a ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominall ...

'',

Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese '' daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period. He is regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. Nobunaga was head of the very powerful Oda clan, and launched a war against other ''daimyō'' to unif ...

, was one of their important customers. During his ambitious attempt to unify Japan, Nobunaga attempted to take the autonomy privilege from Sakai. Sakai's citizens denied his order and pitched a desperate battle against his army. Most citizens fled and Sakai was burned and seized by Nobunaga. After the assassination of Nobunaga in 1582,

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and '' daimyō'' ( feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the C ...

, seized power and abolished the autonomous system of Sakai, forcing many merchants to move to his stronghold in Osaka. File:Old house of gunsmiths in Sakai.jpg, Old house of gunsmiths in Sakai File:Gunsmith Storefront in Sakai Osaka by Akisato Rito 1796.jpg,

Gunsmith A gunsmith is a person who repairs, modifies, designs, or builds guns. The occupation differs from an armorer, who usually replaces only worn parts in standard firearms. Gunsmiths do modifications and changes to a firearm that may require a very ...

storefront in Sakai, Osaka File:Toyotomi Hideyoshi c1598 Kodai-ji Temple.png,

In 1615, Sakai was razed to the ground in the SummerCampaign of the

Siege of Osaka The was a series of battles undertaken by the Japanese Tokugawa shogunate against the Toyotomi clan, and ending in that clan's destruction. Divided into two stages (winter campaign and summer campaign), and lasting from 1614 to 1615, the siege ...

between the

Toyotomi clan The was a Japanese clan that ruled over the Japanese before the Edo period. Unity and conflict The most influential figure within the Toyotomi was Toyotomi Hideyoshi, one of the three "unifiers of Japan". Oda Nobunaga was another primar ...

and

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fel ...

. Sakai was restored as an important trade center during the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional ''daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was character ...

but was involved only in inland trade due to the ''

sakoku was the isolationist foreign policy of the Japanese Tokugawa shogunate under which, for a period of 265 years during the Edo period (from 1603 to 1868), relations and trade between Japan and other countries were severely limited, and nearly ...

'' policy of the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in ...

, which isolated Japan from the outside world. It was also known for its ''

sake Sake, also spelled saké ( ; also referred to as Japanese rice wine), is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name ''Japanese rice wine'', sake, and ind ...

'' brewing and its cutlery industries. After the isolation policy was abandoned during the

Bakumatsu period was the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate ended. Between 1853 and 1867, Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as and changed from a feudal Tokugawa shogunate to the modern empire of the Meiji government. ...

, Sakai was the location of the

Sakai Incident 270px, Monument to the Tosa samurai at Myōkoku-ji in Sakai The was a diplomatic incident that occurred on March 8, 1868, in Bakumatsu period Japan involving the deaths of eleven French sailors from the French corvette ''Dupleix'' in the port ...

, involving a clash between French sailors and Japanese gendarmes resulting in multiple casualties. When the Western powers demanded the opening of Osaka a port for foreign trade, both Sakai and Hyōgo were named as candidates; however, Sakai's proximity and ease of access to

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ...

and the presence of many imperial tombs led to the selection of Hyōgo. File:Sakai_Incident_Tosa_Domain_1868_Le_Monde_Illustré.png,

Sakai incident 270px, Monument to the Tosa samurai at Myōkoku-ji in Sakai The was a diplomatic incident that occurred on March 8, 1868, in Bakumatsu period Japan involving the deaths of eleven French sailors from the French corvette ''Dupleix'' in the port ...

（1868）

Modern Sakai

Following the

Meiji restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were r ...

, Sakai was transformed into an industrial center as part of the Hanshin Industrial Region, with industries centering on textiles and brick making. From 1876 to 1881, Sakai was part of

Nara Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Nara Prefecture has a population of 1,321,805 and has a geographic area of . Nara Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Osaka Prefecture to the ...

. The city of Sakai was proclaimed on April 1, 1889 with the creation the modern municipalities system. It was one of the first 31 cities to be created in Japan. The 1934 Muroto typhoon killed over 300 people in Sakai. Another major disaster was in 1945, when the city was heavily bombed on six occasions during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

with over 1800 civilian deaths. Following the February 2005 annexation of the town of Mihara (from

Minamikawachi District is a district located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. In 2009 the district had an estimated population of 37,695 and a density of 491 persons per km2. The total area is 76.81 km2. Towns and villages * Kanan *Taishi * Chihayaakasaka Mergers ...

), Sakai became a

designated city A , also known as a or , is a Japanese city that has a population greater than 500,000 and has been designated as such by order of the Cabinet of Japan under Article 252, Section 19, of the Local Autonomy Law. Designated cities are delegat ...

in April 2006 giving it a greater measure of self-determination in governmental affairs.

Government

Sakai has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multi ...

city council of 52 members. Sakai contributes eight members to the

Osaka Prefectural Assembly The is the legislature of Osaka Prefecture. As in all prefectures, it is elected to four-year terms by single non-transferable vote in multi- and single-member districts and is responsible for enacting and amending prefectural by-laws, approving ...

. In terms of national politics, the city is divided between the Osaka 15th district, Osaka 16th district and Osaka 17th districts of the lower house of the

Diet of Japan The is the national legislature of Japan. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives (, ''Shūgiin''), and an upper house, the House of Councillors (, '' Sangiin''). Both houses are directly elected under a paral ...

Local administration

Sakai has seven wards (''ku''):

Cityscape

File:Sakaihigashi2020.jpg, Sakai City Downtown（2020） File:Sakaishi2020.jpg, Sakai City

Skyline A skyline is the outline or shape viewed near the horizon. It can be created by a city’s overall structure, or by human intervention in a rural setting, or in nature that is formed where the sky meets buildings or the land. City skyline ...

（2020） File:Old Sakai Port202002.jpg, Old Sakai Port（2020） File:大仙公園日本庭園 (48814715927).jpg, Daisen Park（2019） File:Sakaihigashi Station20161016.jpg, Sakaihigashi Station（2016） File:Sakai City public office001.jpg, Sakai City Hall（2009）

Economy

Sakai was traditionally dependent on heavy industry and its port. However, after the period of high economic growth after War War II, along with the development and expansion of the Osaka metropolitan area, Sakai also has lso increased become a satellite city (

commuter town A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many ...

) for Osaka metropolis, as represented by the development of Senboku New Town.

Shimano , originally and later , is a Japanese multinational manufacturing company for cycling components, fishing tackles and rowing equipment, who also produced golf supplies until 2005 and snowboarding gear until 2008. Named after founder Shoza ...

, a major manufacturer of cycling and fishing products, is based in Sakai.

Kura Sushi is a Japanese sushi restaurant chain. Its headquarters are in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture. It has 451 locations in Japan, 22 in Taiwan, and 30 in the United States. While it is a conveyor belt sushi chain, it relies on a high level of automation al ...

, the

conveyor belt sushi , also called rotation sushi, is a type of sushi restaurant common in Japan. In Australasia, it is also known as a sushi train. Plates serving the sushi are placed on a rotating conveyor belt that winds through the restaurant and moves past ev ...

chain, has its headquarters in Sakai.
Address in Japanese
"大阪府堺市中区深阪1-2-2"

Education

Universities

Osaka Prefecture University (OPU), also abbreviated to , is one of the largest public universities in Japan. The main campus is among big Kofun tombs in Sakai, Osaka. The university will merge with Osaka City University to form Osaka Metropolitan University (OMU) in A ...

* Hagoromo International University *

Kansai University , abbreviated as or , is a private non-sectarian and coeducational university with its main campus in Suita, Osaka, Japan and two sub-campuses in Sakai and Takatsuki, Osaka. Founded as Kansai Law School in 1886, It has been recognized as one of ...

Sakai Campus *

Poole Gakuin University , formerly , is a Christian private university in Sakai, Osaka, Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by ...

* Taisei Gakuin University * Tezukayama Gakuin University * Osaka Butsuryo University * Osaka Junior College of Social Health and Welfare *

Sakai Women's Junior College is a private women's junior college in Sakai, Osaka is a city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It has been one of the largest and most important seaports of Japan since the medieval era. Sakai is known for its keyhole-shaped burial mounds ...

Primary and secondary schools

Sakai has 98 public elementary schools and 43 public middle schools operated by the city government. The city also has one private elementary school, three private combined middle/high schools and one private combined elementary/middle/high school. The city has 23 public high schools operated by the Osaka Prefectural Board of Education, and four private high schools. The city operates two and the prefecture operates four special education schools for the disabled. The city previously had a North Korean school, ., script-title=ja:ウリハッキョ一覧 , publisher=Chongryon
, date=November 6, 2005 , accessdate=October 15, 2015

.

Transportation

Airways

Airport

Sakai does not have an airport. The nearest major airport is Kansai International Airport.

Railways

JR West , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, and ...

–

Hanwa Line The is a commuter rail line in the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto Metropolitan Area, owned and operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West). The 61.3 km (38.1 mi) line runs between Osaka and Wakayama, Japan and has a 1.7 km branchline in a southern Os ...

* - - - - - - Nankai group logo

Nankai Electric Railway is a private railway in Japan, founded in 1884. The name ''Nankai'' (which means "South Sea") comes from the company's routes along the Nankaidō, the old highway that ran south from the old capital, Kyoto, along the sea coast. Nankai predates ...

Nankai Main Line The is one of the two main railway lines of Japanese private railway company Nankai Electric Railway, together with Kōya Line. The route is from Namba Station in south downtown of Osaka to Wakayamashi Station in Wakayama via Sakai, Izumi� ...

* - - - - - Nankai group logo

Kōya Line * - - - - - ] - - -

Semboku Rapid Railway Co., Ltd. is a company managing the commercial distribution center and the Semboku Rapid Railway in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It was formerly known as third-sector company until June 30, 2014. Osaka Prefectural Urban Development and its subsidiary compa ...

- Semboku Rapid Railway * - - - ] -

Subway

Osaka Metro The is a major rapid transit system in the Osaka Metropolitan Area of Japan, operated by the Osaka Metro Company, Ltd. It serves the city of Osaka and the adjacent municipalities of Higashiosaka, Kadoma, Moriguchi, Sakai, Suita, and Yao. ...

Midōsuji Line The is a rapid transit line in Osaka, Japan, operated by Osaka Metro. Constructed under Midōsuji, a major north-south street, it is the oldest line in the Osaka subway system and the second oldest in Japan, following the Tokyo Metro Ginza Li ...

* - -

Tramway

;

Hankai Tramway is a company which owns two tramway lines in the cities of Osaka and Sakai, Osaka, Japan. The parent company is Nankai Electric Railway Co., Ltd. Lines Current * Hankai Line (Ebisucho - Hamadera eki-mae) 14.1 km * Uemachi Line (Tennoji ...

* Hankai Line：（ Sumiyoshi）- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Bus

Nankai Bus Company, Limited Nankai () is a family of schools in China founded by Yan Xiu (严范孙) (1860–1920) and Zhang Boling (张伯苓) (1876–1951). The schools include: * Nankai High School in Tianjin (天津南开中学) (1904). * Nankai University in Tianji ...

** Nankai wing Bus kanaoka Company, Limited * Kintetsu Bus * Osaka City Bus

Highways

Expressways

Hanwa Expressway The is a national expressway in the Kinki region of Japan. It is owned and operated by West Nippon Expressway Company. Naming Hanwa is a kanji acronym of two characters. The first character represents Osaka (大阪) and the second character ...

Sakai Senboku Road * E91 Expressway (Japan)

Minami-Hanna Road * Hanshin Urban Expwy Logo

Hanshin Expressway The is a network of expressways surrounding Osaka, Kobe Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port ci ...

** 4 Bayshore Route ** 6 Yamatogawa Route ** 15 Sakai Route

Japan National Route

* * *

International relations

Sister cities

* Berkeley,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

, United States (1967) *

Lianyungang Lianyungang () is a prefecture-level city in northeastern Jiangsu province, China. It borders Yancheng to its southeast, Huai'an and Suqian to its south, Xuzhou to its southwest, and the province of Shandong to its north. Its name derives ...

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its c ...

, China (1983) *

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by m ...

, New Zealand (1994)

Friendship cities

Tanegashima is one of the Ōsumi Islands belonging to Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. The island, 444.99 km2 in area, is the second largest of the Ōsumi Islands, and has a population of 33,000 people. Access to the island is by ferry, or by air to New ...

Kagoshima , abbreviated to , is the capital city of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. Located at the southwestern tip of the island of Kyushu, Kagoshima is the largest city in the prefecture by some margin. It has been nicknamed the "Naples of the Eastern wor ...

, Japan (1986) * Higashiyoshino,

Nara The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It ...

, Japan (1986) *

Da Nang Nang or DanangSee also Danang Dragons ( ; vi, Đà Nẵng, ) is a class-1 municipality and the fifth-largest city in Vietnam by municipal population. It lies on the coast of the East Sea of Vietnam at the mouth of the Hàn River, and is o ...

, Vietnam (2019)

Notable people from Sakai

, founder of

Tea ceremony An East Asian tea ceremony, or ''Chádào'' (), or ''Dado'' ( ko, 다도 (茶道)), is a ceremonially ritualized form of making tea (茶 ''cha'') practiced in East Asia by the Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans. The tea ceremony (), literally transl ...

* Kataoka Ainosuke VI,

Kabuki is a classical form of Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily-stylised performances, the often-glamorous costumes worn by performers, and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers. Kabuki is thought ...

actor, actor,

television presenter A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces, hosts television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. Nowadays, it is common for people who garner ...

and

entertainer An entertainer is someone who provides entertainment in various different forms. Types of entertainers * Acrobat * Actor * Archimime * Athlete * Barker * Beatboxer * Benshi * Bouffon * Circus performer * Clown * Club Hostess/Host * Com ...

. * Yuki Morisaki,

chef A chef is a trained professional cook and tradesman who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term ''chef de cuisine'' (), the director or head of a k ...

and

* Reon Kadena,

glamour model A model is a person with a role either to promote, display or advertise commercial products (notably fashion clothing in fashion shows) or to serve as a visual aid for people who are creating works of art or to pose for photography. Though m ...

and actress *

, the 16th

Emperor of Japan The Emperor of Japan is the monarch and the head of the Imperial Family of Japan. Under the Constitution of Japan, he is defined as the symbol of the Japanese state and the unity of the Japanese people, and his position is derived from "the ...

* Gyōki, Japanese

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

of the

Nara period The of the history of Japan covers the years from CE 710 to 794. Empress Genmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō (present-day Nara, Nara, Nara). Except for a five-year period (740–745), when the capital was briefly moved again, it remai ...

* Ikkyū,

monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...

and poet. *

, Japanese tea master * Tsuda Sōgyū, Japanese tea master * Imai Sōkyū, Japanese tea master and

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as indust ...

* Ōuchi Yoshihiro,

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samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of History of Japan#Medieval Japan (1185–1573/1600), medieval and Edo period, early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retai ...

clan head and military leader * Kenzō Tange, Japanese award-winning architect *

Takeno Jōō was a master of the tea ceremony and a well-known merchant during the Sengoku period of the 16th century in Japan. His name has come down in Japanese cultural history because he followed Murata Jukō as an early proponent of wabi-cha, and was ...

* Oreskaband, all-female ska band *

Nobuaki Kakuda is a retired karateka and kickboxer. Early life After attending university, Kakuda opened a karate dojo in Kobe but was forced to shut it down after two years. He subsequently worked as a dishwasher, ramen chef, and construction worker. At age ...

karateka (; ; Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the influence of Chinese martial arts, particularly Fujian ...

and

kickboxer Kickboxing is a combat sport focused on kicking and punching. The combat takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouthguards, shorts, and bare feet to favour the use of kicks. Kickboxing is practiced for self-defense, gener ...

* Hiroki Suzuki, Japanese actor and singer *Kentaro Kobuchi and Shunsuke Kuroda, the members of the music group Kobukuro *

Akiko Yosano Yosano Akiko ( Shinjitai: , seiji: ; 7 December 1878 – 29 May 1942) was the pen-name of a Japanese author, poet, pioneering feminist, pacifist, and social reformer, active in the late Meiji era as well as the Taishō and early Shōwa era ...

, poet and novelist * Ryumon Yasuda, painter and sculptor * Hideo Nomo worked in Shin-nittetsu Sakai and played on its club team before he was scouted by the

Kintetsu Buffaloes The were a Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) team based in Osaka, Japan, which was in the Pacific League. In 2005 the team was merged with the Orix BlueWave to become the team now known as the Orix Buffaloes. The team played in Fujiidera Stad ...

Yudetamago is the pen name of the Japanese Mangaka, manga artists duo consisting of story writer Takashi Shimada and artist Yoshinori Nakai. They are best known for the popular manga ''Kinnikuman'', ''Ultimate Muscle'' (Kinnikuman Nisei), and ''Tatakae!! Rame ...

manga artist A is a comic artist who writes and/or illustrates manga. As of 2006, about 3,000 professional manga artists were working in Japan. Most manga artists study at an art college or manga school or take on an apprenticeship with another artist be ...

duo (attended Hatsushiba High School in Higashi-ku) *Akio Mori, a well known K-1 kickboxer known as Musashi (kickboxer) *

Akira Nagata is a Japanese singer, actor, and voice actor. He is a member of the boy band Run&Gun. He was part of the casts of Musical Air Gear with his fellow band members, a voice actor for Lovely Complex, and he also portrays Seigi Ozaki in the tokusats ...

, actor and singer/vocalist, member of

J-pop J-pop ( ja, ジェイポップ, ''jeipoppu''; often stylized as J-POP; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively also known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the ...

group Run&Gun * CIMA, Japanese

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

Local attractions

* Mozu Kofun Cluster * Kurohimeyama Kofun * Yotsu-ike Site * Dotō * Sakai City Museum * Sakai Matsuri * Tsukuno Danjiri Matsuri

References

External links

Sakai City official website
* * {{Authority control Cities in Osaka Prefecture Environmental model cities Planned cities in Japan Populated coastal places in Japan Port settlements in Japan Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan