Sakakibara clan  The was a Japanese samurai clan who rose to prominence during the Edo period under the Tokugawa shogunate. At the time of the Meiji restoration, the clan served as "daimyō" of Takada Domain in Echigo Province. The Sakakibara were one of the four families who enjoyed the privilege of providing a regent during the minority of a Shōgun. Under the Meiji government's "kazoku" peerage system, the head of the clan had the title of viscount ("shishaku"). The Sakakibara claimed descent from the Seiwa Genji via the Nikki clan, who ruled two districts of Iga Province from the early Muromachi period. The 9th generation descendant of Nikki Yoshinaga relocated to Sakakibara village in Ise Province (part of the present-day city of Tsu, Mie) and his son, Toshinaga was the first to take the name of "Sakakibara". The Sakakibara initially served the Kitabatake clan, but later transferred their fealty to the Oda clan, and in 1584 were considered retainers of Oda Nobukane, brother of Oda Nobunaga. Around the same tome, a branch of the clan settled in Mikawa Province and entered into the service of Tokugawa Ieyasu. The clan history is sketchy about this period, and there is some indication that the Sakakibara in Mikawa may have been the main branch of the clan. Sakakibara Yasumasa (1548–1606) rose to prominence as a general under Tokugawa Ieyasu. Along with Sakai Tadatsugu, Ii Naomasa and Honda Tadakatsu, he was known as one of the , and was also styled with the sobriquet of . After the Battle of Sekigahara, he was granted the special honour of changing his name to use one of Ieyasu's name characters – "Yasu". and was awarded the "han" (fief) of Tatebayashi Domain (100,000 "koku") in Kōzuke Province. Over its history, the Sakakibara clan was relocated several times by the shogunate. In a last move, the clan narrowly escaped attainder by the shogunate. Sakakibara Masamine, the 3rd Sakakibara "daimyō" of Himeji Domain, angered Shōgun Tokugawa Yoshimune by flaunting sumptuary edicts, and purchasing the freedom of Takao Daiyu, a famed courtesan from a Yoshiwara brothel for a tremendous sum of money.