Sakai Tadakiyo

Sakai Tadakiyo (酒井 忠清, November 29, 1624 – July 4, 1681), also known as Uta-no-kami,[1] was a daimyō (feudal lord) in Kōzuke Province, and a high-ranking government advisor and official in the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan.

[6] In 1749, the descendants of Tadakiyo were transferred to Himeji Domain (150,000 koku) in Harima Province, where they continued to live up through the Meiji Restoration.

He accused Tadakiyo of taking bribes, and of handling situations on a case-by-case basis, without any sense of overall policy or progress towards a goal.

This element of the affair dragged out for ten years before Tadakiyo summoned the key parties involved to Edo in order to conduct a formal inquiry; this ultimately ended in the death of one Sendai retainer at the hands of another, who was in turn cut down by the Tairō's guards.

[9] Some historians believe that Tadakiyo could have, and should have, seen the entire affair to an end years earlier, and judge it likely therefore that he was taking bribes from Tsunamura's regents, who sought to draw out the situation and avoid any action being taken against them.