酒井 忠清
Tadakiyo Sakai was born on 29 November 1623.
The fudai daimyo were the feudal families that had already sworn allegiance to Tokugawa Ieyasu before the battle of Sekigahara in 1600; the Sakai family were lords of the domain of Maebashi in present-day Gumma Prefecture.
Tadakiyo became lord of the domain in 1637 on the death of his father. In 1651, when Tokugawa Ietsuna became the fourth shogun, Tadakiyo was sent as the shogun’s envoy to the imperial court in Kyoto to thank the emperor for his congratulations, and in the same year he was raised in rank and given the title Uta-no- kami. In 1653 he was advanced to the important administrative post of roju, and in 1666 to the highest post of all, that of tairo.
Because Shogun Ietsuna was ailing and because so many of the great lords who had dominated the scene at the time of the founding of the Edo shogunate had by this time died, Tadakiyo was able to exercise power as he pleased. He also played a part in settling a dispute that arose within the Date family of the domain of Sendai.
Tadakiyo’s mansion was situated outside the Otc Gate of Edo Castle, near the signboard ordering persons who were entering the castle to dismount from their horses, and he was accordingly given the nickname geba shogun, “Dismount Shogun.” In 1680 his fief was increased in size, but with the death of Shogun Ietsuna shortly after, he fell from power, and in 1681 was removed from the post of tairo by the fifth shogun, Tsunayoshi
