One of the top-20 most common Japanese surnames. Rendered using the Mandarin readings of the Japanese kanji rather than transliterated phonetically — a standard convention for Japanese names. Famous bearers include the Sengoku-era warlord Saitō Dōsan (
斋藤道三) and 19th-century Shinsengumi captain Saitō Hajime (
斋藤一). The kanji literally mean 'purification (
斋) + wisteria (
藤)'.
