Arai Hakuseki
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 "sobayōnin". 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 Jōnen-ji in Murakami.