Kusakabe Masafuyu
日下部正冬
Kusakabe Clan
Bushi
Lifespan: Tenshō 9 (1581) to 2/13 of Kanei 2 (1625)
Rank: bushi
Title: Governor of Kawachi
Clan: Kusakabe
Bakufu: Edo – cavalry unit
Lord: Tokugawa Hidetada
Father: Kusakabe Sadayoshi
Siblings: Muneyoshi, Sadakatsu, Masafuyu, Hayakawa Yoshikatsu, Kagehisa, sister (wife of a member of the Mamiya clan), sister (wife of Toshima Tadatsugu)
Wife: [Formal] Daughter of Murakoshi Naoyoshi
Children: Masasada, Tomomichi, daughter (wife of a member of the Wakita clan), daughter (wife of Mori Shigetsugu), daughter (wife of Ogasawara Yukinari), daughter (wife of Yoshida Munekazu)
Kusakabe Masafuyu served as a bushi during the Azuchi-Momoyama and early Edo periods. As the commander of a cavalry unit, Masafuyu served as a hatamoto, or direct retainer, under Tokugawa Hidetada, the second shōgun of the Edo period.
In 1581, Masafuyu was born as the third son of Kusakabe Sadayoshi, a hatamoto under Tokugawa Ieyasu.
At this time, in addition to Masafuyu, there were five commanders of koshōkumi, or elite cavalry units, including Mizuno Tadamoto, Inoue Masanari, Itakura Shigemune, Naruse Masatake, and Ōkubo Noritaka. In the band of retainers of the Tokugawa family, he was affiliated with Ōkubo Tadachika.
In 1611, at the funeral for Ōkubo Tadatsune (Tadachika’s lineal heir), after Masafuyu and Morikawa Shigetoshi made an unannounced condolence call, he was transferred to the custody of Sakakibara Yasukatsu, a daimyō and the second head of the Sakakibara family.
In 1625, Masafuyu died at the age of forty-five.
