Sakai Tadatsugu

Sakai Tadatsugu
portrait of Sakai Tadatsugu
Born	1527
Died	17 December 1596 Kyoto
Children	Sakai Ietsugu

Sakai Tadatsugu (酒井 忠次^?, 1527 – 17 December 1596) was one of the most favored and most successful military commanders serving Tokugawa Ieyasu in the late-Sengoku period. He is regarded as one of the Four Guardians of the Tokugawa (Tokugawa-Shitennō). along with Honda Tadakatsu, Ii Naomasa, and Sakakibara Yasumasa.

The Sakai clan originated in 14th century Mikawa Province, claiming descent from Minamoto Arichika. Arichika had two sons: one of them, Yasuchika, took the name Matsudaira; and the younger, Chikauji, took the name Sakai.

Sakai Hirochika, who was the son of Chikauji, likewise had two sons, and their descendants gave rise to the two main branches of the Sakai clan. Tadatsugu was heir to the senior branch of the clan.

Tadatsugu was born in 1527 to Sakai Tadachika, a hereditary vassal of the Matsudaira clan of Mikawa Province. When Tadatsugu came of age, he first served Tokugawa Ieyasu's father, Matsudaira Hirotada. After 1560, when Ieyasu broke off his ties with the Imagawa clan, Tadatsugu was given command of the Yoshida Castle in eastern Mikawa (present-day Toyohashi).

During that time, it is said Tadatsugu killed a boar with his katana, earning it the name of the Inokiri (猪切 the Boar Slayer). The blade itself was a work of Masazane from the Tegai school of Nara, and a colleague of the famous Muramasa (or maybe another name for Muramasa himself). Masazane also authored Tonbōgiri (蜻蛉切 the Dragonfly Slayer), the most famous of the Three Great Spears of Japan (天下三名槍), favourite weapon of Honda Tadakatsu, another one of the Tokugawa Shitennō.