Information Revolution

Sakai was in many ways similar to Hakata, in being the only permitted international port in the vicinity ﾐ in Sakai’s case, the Kinai region bordering the Inland Sea. It rapidly evolved as a mercantile city with its own distinctive form of government. Because of its wealth, many temples and daimyo fought for control of it, often bringing disaster.
From 1465, trade came and went via Sakai from the Ming, Korea and the Ryukyus, and then also from Portugal. The merchants managed to wrest political control of their own city, using their firm financial base, and they moated and fortified the urban area against further attack. Yet in 1568, Hideyoshi suddenly imposed heavy war dues on the city, and took it under his own control.
The 1560s mark Sakai’s golden age, and commerce and the arts flourished. There were many important cultural figures and tea masters living there, notably, Sen Rikyu.