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Sakai is a port city on Osaka Bay in Osaka Prefecture, Japan, just south of Osaka, famous for the Mozu kofun, giant keyhole-shaped tombs of the 5th century led by the Daisen Kofun, one of the largest graves in the world. It is also known for its fine kitchen knives and as the home of the tea master Sen no Rikyū.
The tombs were raised on a plateau above the old shoreline, and in 2019 they joined the Mozu-Furuichi World Heritage Site. In the Middle Ages Sakai grew into one of Japan's busiest ports, a self-governing merchant city that traded overseas and made guns after 1543, while its merchants shaped the tea ceremony. The city burned in 1615 and again in the air raids of 1945. Today it is home to about 820,000 people.
Start in Daisen Park, beside the great mounds, and visit the city museum. Ride the old tram through the merchant quarter to Nanshū-ji and Aguchi Shrine, and shop for a hand-forged knife. Walk the pines of Hamadera Park, then pay your respects at Ōtori Taisha.
Daisen Kofun is a vast keyhole-shaped burial mound in Sakai-ku, Sakai, built in the 5th century and held by the Imperial Household Agency to be the tomb of Emperor Nintoku. About 525 meters long and ringed by moats, it is the largest kofun in Japan and part of a World Heritage Site.
Kamiishizu Misanzai Kofun is a keyhole-shaped mound in Nishi-ku, Sakai, 365 meters long and the third-largest kofun in Japan. Built parallel to the old coastline so it could be seen from the sea, it is held to be the tomb of Emperor Richū and has been part of a World Heritage Site since 2019.
Daisen Park covers about 81 hectares in Sakai-ku, Sakai, between the Daisen and Kamiishizu Misanzai mounds, with small kofun inside it. It has a Japanese garden, two tea houses, a peace tower and about 400 cherry trees, and was named one of Japan's top 100 historic parks in 2014.
Sakai City Museum stands in Daisen Park in Sakai-ku, Sakai, opened in 1980 for the city's 90th anniversary. It traces the story of Sakai from the age of the Mozu tombs to its days as a self-governing merchant port, and a tethered balloon in the same park lifts visitors over the mounds.
Nanshū-ji is a Rinzai Zen temple in Sakai-ku, Sakai, founded in 1557 by the warlord Miyoshi Nagayoshi and rebuilt on its present site by the monk Takuan in 1619. The tea masters Takeno Jōō and Sen no Rikyū trained here, and its dry garden is a national Place of Scenic Beauty.
Aguchi Shrine is an ancient shrine in Sakai-ku, Sakai, known locally as Ōtera, the great temple, after a temple the monk Gyōki founded in its grounds in 744. Rich merchants of the port supported it, among them Sen no Rikyū, and it offers love fortunes in honor of the poet Yosano Akiko.
Old Sakai Lighthouse is a hexagonal wooden lighthouse 11.3 meters tall in Sakai-ku, Sakai, built by local carpenters and masons under a British engineer and lit on 15 September 1877. Retired in 1968, it is one of the oldest Western-style wooden lighthouses in Japan and a national Historic Site.
Sakai Knives are hand-forged blades made in Sakai, whose smiths trace their skills to the age of the great tombs. In the Edo period the shogunate gave its tobacco knives a seal of quality, and today Sakai blades hold close to 90 percent of the market for chefs' knives in Japan.
Ōtori Taisha is the head shrine of the Ōtori faith, in Nishi-ku, Sakai, and the first-ranked shrine of old Izumi Province. Legend says the soul of the hero Yamato Takeru came to rest here as a white bird, and its main hall keeps the Ōtori style, one of the oldest forms of shrine building.
Hamadera Park lies on the coast of Nishi-ku, Sakai, and neighboring Takaishi, famous for its grove of about 5,500 pines. Opened in December 1873, it is the oldest public park in Japan, saved after the statesman Ōkubo Toshimichi lamented the felling of its pines in a poem now carved in stone.
Hōchigai Shrine is a Shinto shrine in Sakai-ku, Sakai, on Mikunigaoka, the hill where the old provinces of Settsu, Kawachi and Izumi met. Since it lay in none of them, people moving house or traveling have long come here to pray against unlucky directions. Its feast on 31 May offers chimaki.
Hankai Tramway runs the last two streetcar lines of Osaka, the Hankai and Uemachi lines, linking the city of Osaka with Sakai. Wholly owned by Nankai since it was split off in 1980, it is known to locals as the chin-den, and its Hankai Line crosses Sakai's old merchant town on the way to Hamadera.
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