Sato Family History

Japanese (Satō): written 佐藤. The Satō descend from the northern Fujiwara through Fujiwara no Hidesato (10th century) who governed Shimotsuke (now Tochigi) prefecture from a place called Sano hence Sano no Fujiwara or Satō.

Another tradition takes the sa from the title Saemon no jō an office held by a distinguished descendant of Hidesato's.

With Suzuki this is one of the two most common surnames in Japan.

It is also spelled Satou and Satow in America.