Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu

I'm currently reading a Japanese novel about the life of Oda
Nobunaga. Nobuhide kidnapped (or intercepted, if you like) Takechiyo
(Tokugawa Ieyasu) and demanded that Tokugawa Hirotada give up Okazaki
in return for his son's life. Of course he refused, but Nobuhiro
decided not to kill Ieyasu anyway. In the book (which is of course
fiction) the implication is that Nobuhide was ready and willing to
kill Ieyasu, but Nobunaga was the one that stopped his father from
killing the boy - although it doesn't say it straight out, the story
implies that he was fond of the kid and was hoping his father would
adopt him into the Oda clan.
My question is, is there any basis in fact for this, or are
Nobunaga's actions in the book artistic license on the part of the
author?

Sadler's biography of Ieyasu suggests that Oda Nobuhide was so
impressed by Hirotada's reply to his ultimatum, effectively showing
willingness to sacrifice his own son to preserve the alliance with
the Imagawa, that he decided the boy should not be harmed.

Nobunaga would have been 14 at the time, and I doubt his argument
would have swayed his father or the Oda retainers.

Nobuhide's reasoning might have been more pragmatic. If Hirotada had
exchanged Okazaki for his son, he would have lost control of Mikawa
altogether (I would guess), so perhaps Hirotada thought he either
loses his son, or he loses everything.

Nobuhide might have decided it was worth hanging on to the child to
use as a pawn in other bargains.

Interesting that fate later decreed that it was Ieyasu who would
sacrifice his firstborn son to preserve the alliance with Nobunaga.

Karma, as they say?

I'd be interested to know the novel, too - I assume it's in Japanese?

Thomas

Yes I think its probably fiction too, but I read manga which depicted a
boyhood friendship between Ieyasu and Nobunaga during his years as a
hostage. Then in a TV movie about Ieyasu (with Kitaoji Kinya) had Ieyasu and
Nobunaga exchanging fond memories of their childhood together like two
drunken salarymen.

The book depicts that same sort of friendship - which struck me as
interesting, because you have to wonder how those two years or so
affected thier relationship later in life, if at all. And since it
is a Japanese novel, you have to assume that the author has access to
all sorts of japanese research that doesn't appear in english, which
was why I was wondering if maybe the thing about Nobunaga might have
come from some sort of real source.

--- In samuraihistory@yahoogroups.com, "William letham"
wrote:

> Yes I think its probably fiction too, but I read manga which

depicted a

> boyhood friendship between Ieyasu and Nobunaga during his years as a
> hostage. Then in a TV movie about Ieyasu (with Kitaoji Kinya) had

Ieyasu and

> Nobunaga exchanging fond memories of their childhood together like

two

> drunken salarymen.