Sakai clan

Sakai clan 酒井
Emblem (mon) of the Sakai clan
Home province	Mikawa
Parent house	Nitta clan
Titles	Various
Founder	Sakai Chikauji
Founding year	14th century
Dissolution	still extant

The Sakai clan (Japanese: 酒井氏, Hepburn: Sakai-shi) was a Japanese samurai clan that claimed descent from the Nitta branch of the Minamoto clan, who were in turn descendants of Emperor Seiwa. Serata (Nitta) Arichika, a samurai of the 14th century, was the common ancestor of both the Sakai clan and the Matsudaira clan, which the Sakai later served. In the Sengoku period, under Tokugawa Ieyasu (who was the head of what was formerly the main Matsudaira family line), the Sakai became chief retainers. In the Edo period, because of their longstanding service to the Tokugawa clan, the Sakai were classified as a fudai family, in contrast with the tozama ("outsider clans").