Sakai, Osaka

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**Sakai City**
堺市
Location
Country	Japan
Region	Kansai
Prefecture	Osaka Prefecture
Physical characteristics
Area	149.99 km²
Population (as of October 1, 2006)
Total	832,287
Density	5548/km²
Location	34°34′N 135°28′E
Symbols
Tree	willow
Flower	iris
Bird	shrike
Sakai City City Hall
Mayor	Keisuke Kihara
Address	〒590-0078 Sakai-shi Sakai-ku, Minami-Kawaramachi 3-1
Phone number	072-233-1101
Official website: Sakai City

Coordinates: 34°34′N 135°28′E

Sakai (堺市, Sakai-shi^?) 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.

Following the February 2005 annexation of Mihara Town in Minamikawachi District, the city has grown further and is now the fifteenth most populous city in Japan.

Daisen Kofun

The current city was legally founded on April 1, 1889 according to the laws of Imperial Japan. Sakai became a designated city on April 1, 2006, giving it a greater measure of self-determination in governmental affairs. It is divided into seven districts.

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 and is the largest grave in the world by volume. Once known for samurai swords, Sakai is now famous for the quality of its Japanese kitchen knives; most high-quality Japanese cutlery originates in Sakai, and its production is a major industry in the city.

1 History
2 Wards
3 Sister cities
4 Notables
5 External links

[edit] History

In the Muromachi Period Sakai was one of richest cities in Japan. Sakai is located on the edge of Osaka Bay and at the mouth of the Yamato River, which connected the Yamato region (now Nara Prefecture) to the sea. Sakai thus helped to connect foreign trade with inland trade.

Sakai was an autonomous city run by merchant citizens. In those days it was said that the richest cities were Umi Sakai, Riku Imai (tr. "along the sea, Sakai, inlands Imai"). The famous Zen Buddhist priest Ikkyu chose to live in Sakai because of its free atmosphere. In the Sengoku Period some Christian priests, including St. Francis Xavier in 1550, visited Sakai and documented its prosperity.

This wooden Kongorikishi statue originally guarded the gate to Ebaradera, a temple in Sakai.

After the coming of Europeans Sakai became a trade center of firearms, and a daimyo, Oda Nobunaga, 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; Sakai was burned and seized by Nobunaga. After the death of Nobunaga, one of his men, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, seized power. Sakai became a prosperous city again under his reign.

Sen no Rikyu, known as the greatest master of the tea ceremony, was originally a merchant of Sakai. Because of the close relationship between the tea ceremony and Zen Buddhism, and because of the prosperity of its citizens, Sakai was one of the main centers of the tea ceremony in Japan.

Sakai was still an important trade center during the Edo Period, but was involved only in inland trade due to the Bakufu (Sakoku) policy of the Tokugawa government. At the end of this era Westerners again landed in Sakai, but it resulted in a tragic incident, because the Japanese citizenry and the foreigners were ignorant of each others' ways. French sailors from the Dupleix and Sakai citizens clashed; some French were killed, and subsequently the Japanese responsible for these deaths were sentenced to death by seppuku. This incidentis called the Sakai Incident (Sakai-jiken).

In modern times, Sakai is an industrial city with a large port. As such, its western area suffered widespread damage from bombing raids during the Second World War. It is now known for its knives and is the home of Shimano bicycle parts. With a population of over 800,000, it is the largest suburb of Osaka City and the fifteenth-largest city in Japan.