Sakai

Sakai is a city in Osaka Prefecture, Japan, a designated city in the Kansai region and one of the first 31 cities established in the country, created on 1 April 1889. One of Japan's largest and most important seaports since the medieval era, it is known for keyhole-shaped burial mounds, or kofun, dating to the fifth century, including Daisen Kofun, the largest grave in the world by area, and for a sword-making tradition that today underlies its reputation for fine cutlery. Following the 2005 annexation of Mihara, Sakai became a designated city in April 2006, and as of 1 January 2022 it had 819,965 residents, the fourteenth most populous city in Japan outside Tokyo.