Hostage Exchange at Kasadera

In 1549, the Battle of Anjo started again and it the result was not good for the Oda.  Oda Nobuhiro, who was in charge of Anjo Castle in western Mikawa Province was captured by the Imagawa after a year of fighting.  The battle was violent as the Imagawa forces used matchlock rifles to wear down Nobuhiro's army.  As for Oda Nobuhide, the loss meant he had to give up something in order for Nobuhiro to return to Owari.  Not only that, but Nobuhide lost Anjo Castle which was a buffer against the Imagawa and Matsudaira families.

Nobuhide agreed to the Imagawa terms to to exchange young Takechiyo (Tokugawa Ieyasu) for Nobuhiro.  The two families exchanged hostages at Kasadera's Kannonji in Owari.  The consequences were huge.  Nobuhide died only a few years later and the Imagawa expanded their military campiagn towards Owari.  Five years later after the hostage exchange, Nobunaga fought and won at the Battle of Muraki (1554) using guns and eleven years later was the Battle of Okehazama.

As for Takechiyo, he did return to Okazaki for brief moment until he was sent back to Sunpu as a hostage of the Imagawa.  At Sunpu, he was trained under Yoshimoto's military adviser Taigen Sessai.  By the time of the Battle of Okehazama, he was known as Matsudaira Motoyasu and was free after Yoshimoto was killed at Okehazama.

As for Nobunaga in 1549, he accomplished two major achievements, he ordered 500 matchlock rifles from Kunitomo in Omi and signed an off-limits notice to the Eight Villages of Atsuta "Fujiwara no Nobunaga."

Tenka no tame!