Editing Sakai (section)

==History==
===Origins===
The area that would later become known as Sakai has been inhabited since approximately 8,000 BC.<ref name="sakai.tcb.or.jp">{{Cite web|url=http://www.sakai-tcb.or.jp/english/about_sakai/|title = Welcome to Sakai!}}</ref> 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 area. During the [[Kofun period]] between 300 and 500 AD, the [[Mozu kofungun|Mozu Tumulus Cluster]] was built from over one hundred burial mounds.<ref name="sakai.tcb.or.jp" /> The name "Sakai" appears in Fujiwara Sadoyori's poetry by 1045.<ref name="city.sakai" /> Most of the current city is located within ancient [[Izumi Province]]; 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.<ref name="city.sakai">{{Cite web|url=http://www.city.sakai.lg.jp/english/visitors/whats/history.html|title=History}}</ref>
<gallery>
File:Daisenryo Kofun haisho-3.jpg|[[Daisen Kofun]]
File:Daisenryo Kofun zenkei-2.jpg|[[Mozu Tombs]]
File:Ōtori-taisha, Worship Hall 001.jpg|[[Ōtori taisha]]
File:Ōtori-taisha, Statue of Yamato Takeru 001.jpg|[[Yamato Takeru]]
</gallery>

===Feudal period===
Medieval Sakai was an autonomous city run by merchant oligarchs. During the [[Muromachi period|Muromachi]] and [[Sengoku period]]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.<ref name="oxford and clark">{{Cite book |last=Clark |first=Peter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z09oAgAAQBAJ&dq=Gaspar+Vilela+sakai+consuls&pg=PA331 |title=The Oxford Handbook of Cities in World History |date=2013-02-14 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-163769-8 |language=en}}</ref> 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]]). The famous [[Zen]] 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 ''egōshū''.<ref name="oxford and clark" /><ref name="katsuro">{{Cite book |last=Katsurō Hara |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k-lBAAAAIAAJ&dq=sakai+japan+autonomous+merchant&pg=PA241 |title=An Introduction to the History of Japan |date=1920 |publisher=G. P. Putnams' sons |language=en}}</ref>

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

In the Sengoku period, Christian missionaries, including [[Francis Xavier]] 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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2015/04/11/travel/sakai-keyhole-history-osaka/#.Vr2JV_krJjU|title = Sakai: A keyhole to the history of Osaka|date = April 11, 2015}}</ref>
He also mentioned that the city was "governed by consuls like Venice in Italy".<ref name="oxford and clark" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-09/19/c_132733667.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130924044633/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-09/19/c_132733667.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 24, 2013|title=Japan's oldest 'autonomous' city splits over Osaka Metropolis Plan – Xinhua {{!}} English.news.cn|website=news.xinhuanet.com|access-date=May 8, 2016}}</ref>

After the coming of Europeans, Sakai became a manufacturing base of [[Tanegashima (gun)|matchlock firearm]]s and a ''[[daimyō]]'', [[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 and Sakai was burned and seized by Nobunaga.

After the assassination of Nobunaga in 1582, [[Toyotomi Hideyoshi]], seized power and abolished the autonomous system of Sakai, forcing many merchants to move to his stronghold in Osaka.<ref name="xinhuanet">{{cite web |url=http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-09/19/c_132733667.htm |title=Japan's oldest "autonomous" city splits over Osaka Metropolis Plan - Xinhua {{!}} English.news.cn |website=news.xinhuanet.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130924044633/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-09/19/c_132733667.htm |archive-date=2013-09-24}}</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" style="text-align: center;" caption="" heights="130px" perrow="3">
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]] storefront in Sakai, Osaka
File:Toyotomi Hideyoshi c1598 Kodai-ji Temple.png|[[Toyotomi Hideyoshi]]
</gallery>

===Edo period===
In 1615, Sakai was razed to the ground in the summer campaign of the [[Siege of Osaka]] between the [[Toyotomi clan]] and [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]].<ref name="city.sakai" />

Sakai was restored as an important trade center during the [[Edo period]] but was involved only in inland trade due to the ''[[sakoku]]'' policy of the [[Tokugawa shogunate]], which isolated Japan from the outside world. It was also known for its ''[[sake]]'' brewing and its cutlery industries.  After the isolation policy was abandoned during the [[Bakumatsu period]], Sakai was the location of the [[Sakai Incident]], 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 [[Kobe|Hyōgo]] were named as candidates; however, Sakai's proximity and ease of access to [[Kyoto]] and the presence of many imperial tombs led to the selection of Hyōgo.

<gallery mode="packed" style="text-align: center;" caption="" heights="130px" perrow="3">
File:Sakai_Incident_Tosa_Domain_1868_Le_Monde_Illustré.png|[[Sakai incident]] (1868)
</gallery>

===Modern Sakai===
Following the [[Meiji restoration]], 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]]. The city of Sakai was proclaimed on April 1, 1889, with the creation of 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]] with over 1800 civilian deaths.
Following the February 2005 annexation of the town of [[Mihara, Osaka|Mihara]] (from [[Minamikawachi District, Osaka|Minamikawachi District]]), Sakai became a [[Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan|designated city]] in April 2006<ref>[http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20070217TDY03003.htm "Tokyo pollsters in the money"], ''[[Yomiuri Shimbun]]'', February 17, 2007. Accessed March 13, 2007.</ref> giving it a greater measure of [[self-determination]] in governmental affairs.