Viscount Saitō Makoto, GCB GCSOC (斎藤 実) (27 October 1858 – 26 February 1936) was a Japanese naval officer and politician.

[1] Upon distinguishing himself during his command of two cruisers in the First Sino-Japanese War, Saitō rose rapidly to the rank of rear admiral by 1900.

Promoted to lieutenant on 14 July 1886; in 1888, after returning to Japan, he served as a member of the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff.

After his promotion to lieutenant commander on 20 December 1893, he served as executive officer on the cruiser Izumi and battleship Fuji.

However, on 16 April 1914, Saitō was forced to resign from his post as Navy Minister due implications of his involvement in the Siemens scandal, and officially entered the reserves.

Saitō's administration was one of the longer-serving ones of the inter-war period, and it continued until 8 July 1934, when the cabinet resigned en masse because of the Teijin Incident bribery scandal.

Saitō continued to be an important figure in politics as Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal from 26 December 1935, but was assassinated during the February 26 Incident of 1936 at his home in Yotsuya, Tokyo.