Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Edo, Japan
About Manabe Akifusa
- Manabe Akifusa (?? ??, June 18, 1666 – August 7, 1720) was a close person confidant of Shogun Tokugawa Ienobu and held numerous important posts within the administration of the Tokugawa shogunate.
- He was also daimyo of Takasaki Domain and later of Murakami Domain.Akifusa was the son of Nishida Kiyosada, a retainer of Tokugawa Tsunashige, the daimyo of Kofu Domain.
- He was initially apprenticed to a sarugaku theatre troupe, but in 1684 became a page to Tokugawa Tsunatoyo.
- His family name was changed to "Manabe" around this time.
- He rose rapidly through the ranks due to his special relationship with Tsunashige, and by 1704 was counted as a member of his inner entourage, and had been awarded with the courtesy title of Echizen-no-kami, and court rank of Junior Fifth Rank, Lower Grade.
- In 1705 his income was increased to 3,000 koku, but in 1706 he was named a deputy wakadoshiyori and granted additional estates in Sagami Province which brought his income to over the 10,000 koku mark required to become a daimyo.
- The same year, his court rank was increased to Junior Fifth Rank, Lower Grade, and he was nominated deputy roju.
- In 1710, his income was increased to 50,000 koku and he became daimyo of Takasaki Domain.
- This rise in status of a person who was originally a member of the despised profession of "entertainer" to a daimyo and senior official in the government was unprecedented and was largely due to the backing of Shogun Tokugawa Ienobu and his successor Tokugawa Ietsugu.
- Akifusa was noted for his backing of the Confucianist, scholar-bureaucrat Arai Hakuseki as a "brain" for the Tokugawa shogunate and his economic and political reform program.
- Especially under the tenure of the young Tokugawa Ietsugu, Akifuse wielded tremendous influence as a sobayonin.
- After Ietsugu died and was replaced by Tokugawa Yoshimune, Akifusa's influence went into rapid decline.
- He was relieved of all offices within the shogunate, and was transferred from Takasaki to the more remote Murakami Domain on the Sea of Japan in 1717.
- He died at Murakami in 1720 at the age of 54.
- As he had no male heir, he adopted his younger brother, Manabe Akitoki as heir.
- His grave is at the temple of Jonen-ji in Murakami. Shortly after Akifusa's death, Manabe Akitoki was transferred to the newly-created Sabae Domain, where his descendants lived to the Meiji restoration.
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