Born in Kure-city, Hiroshima in 1945. Studied marine biology at Hiroshima university. Formed a group Saibo-bunretsu (Cell fission) in Tokyo in 1969, and was also performing with various free-jazz musicians. Joined Yamashita Yosuke Trio from 1972 till 1979. In 1980 he formed his trio and its three month tour in Japan elicited a great public response. Its performance during this period was released as a live album POCHI.

Besides the activity with his trio, he formed Wha-ha-ha,which gained much attention as a collective group of musicians with strong personality from different fields, and its debut album Shinutokiwa betsu created quite a sensation in the music world in Japan. In May he did two month tour in Europe with his regular trio. And in November he appeared in Berlin Jazz Festival 1981 with newly formed Sakata Orchestra which he formed with handpicked musicians. They were very successful in the Festival, which Lounge Lizards, James Blood Ulmer, Defunkt, Material, etc., also appeared. Its performance was recorded in the album Berlin-28.

In the beginning of 1982, he formed Sakata-Sextet with an original group structure which included two drummers and two base-guitarists. Its stimulus sound filled with modern feeling can be heard in the album Trauma. In 1985 he formed his quartet and at the same time reformed his orchestra as Sakata Akira & his Da-Da-Da Orchestra.

Now he works with his regular unit Harpacticoida, Sakata Akira "3" mii and also with Kesutoradamashi, by which he has been trying to combine different musicians freely. He has been working with a folk singer Hitoshi Komuro, a Wadaiko (Japanese drums) player Eitetsu Hayashi, a traditional Japanese folk singer Takio Itoh and so on, keeping an open mind to any music category. His latest work is Umi (La Mer)-Harpacticoida.

Also he has been well known as an essayist with a unique point of view and writing style. He even appeared in films and on stage as an actoras well. Recently, he is well acknowledged as an ardent student of "Mijinko" (a water flea) and his experience through breeding and observing Mijinko has been arousing many people's sympathy by his deep insight and witty talk into the nature.

In 1990, having grown in intensity of his interest to Mijinko, he organized Mijinko Club and he himself became its president. In 1992 he recorded the music for TV program, NHK Special "Nano Space" and this music was released as Nano Space Odyssey. In 1994 he produced The Mijinko Exhibition at Kasai Seaside Aquarium in Tokyo. In March 1996 he published a video The Universe of Mijinko(Sony Music Entertainment).

Note: For the details of the CDs and Records listed above, see "Works".