Maki Kaji (鍜治 真起, Kaji Maki, 8 October 1951 – 10 August 2021) was a Japanese businessman who was the president of Nikoli, a puzzle manufacturer. He is widely known as "the father of Sudoku" for his role in popularizing the number game.
Kaji was born in Sapporo on 8 October 1951. His father worked as an engineer at a telecom company; his mother was employed by a kimono shop. Kaji attended Shakujii High School in his hometown. He later studied literature at Keio University, but dropped out during his first year. After a succession of jobs including being a roadie, a waiter and a construction worker, he started a publishing business.
Kaji launched a quarterly puzzle magazine in 1980 called Nikoli, together with two friends from his childhood. They named the magazine after a race horse that had won the 1980 2000 Guineas Stakes race in Ireland. Three years later, he founded a company under the same name. The magazine, the company's main product, grew to have 50,000 quarterly readers.

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