Sakai Tadayo (酒井 忠世, July 14, 1572 – April 24, 1636) was a Japanese daimyō of the Sengoku period, and high-ranking government advisor, holding the title of Rōjū, and later Tairō.
Sakai's father died in 1617, and so he inherited his father's domain of Maebashi in Harima Province, which had been assessed at 33,000 koku, and was now changed to 85,000 koku by the shogunate. In 1632, following a shakeup of positions within the bureaucracy, Sakai became nishi no maru rusui, placing him in charge of the western districts of Edo Castle, the seat of the shogunal government. Two years later, the Western districts were burnt down while the shōgun was away in Kyoto. Sakai was stripped of his position, and exiled to Kan'ei-ji.
Appealing to the Gosanke (the heads of the three branch families of the Tokugawa), Sakai was invited to return to the castle two years later, in 1636. Along with Doi Toshikatsu and Sakai Tadakatsu, he was appointed to the newly created post of Tairō (Great Elder). He died within weeks of being appointed, however, at the age of 64. His eldest son, Sakai Tadayuki, died around the same time, and so the next oldest son, Sakai Tadakiyo succeeded his father.
References
Much of this article's content derives from that presented on the Japanese Wikipedia.
Sansom, George (1963). A History of Japan: 1615–1867. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.