Those who tried to protect are defeated, and those who create a new era win—Thinking through Shibata Katsuie and Ishida Mitsunari

Shibata Katsuie and Ishida Mitsunari.

Although they lived in different eras, had different personalities, and stood in different positions, in a sense,
they may have been in

similar positions
. That is, they stood on the side of "trying to protect the order after the lord's death."

Katsuie who protects, Hideyoshi who rises

Oda Nobunaga passed away,
the power balance among the Oda retainers changed significantly.

Among them, the one who rose rapidly was
Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

On the other hand,
Shibata Katsuie, a senior retainer from the Nobunaga era,
opposed Hideyoshi.

And at the Battle of Shizugatake he was defeated.

After that, Hideyoshi
went beyond the framework of an Oda retainer,
and became the ruler of the country himself.

In other words,
one could view it as "Katsuie who is within the existing order
"
versus "Hideyoshi who goes beyond that order itself
".

Before Mitsunari, there was Ieyasu

And after Hideyoshi's death.

This time,
within the Toyotomi administration,
Tokugawa Ieyasu began to strengthen his presence.

One of the central figures who opposed him was
Ishida Mitsunari.

At the Battle of Sekigahara Mitsunari was defeated,
and after that,
Ieyasu established the Edo Shogunate.

Here too,
the

composition
of the "side trying to maintain the existing order" of the Toyotomi administration and the "side creating a new era beyond that order" becomes visible.

"Protecting" is not always right

What makes us think here is that
"the side that protects is good, and the side that changes is evil"
is not necessarily true.

Conversely,
"the side that creates something new is right,
and the side that protects old things is wrong"
is also not necessarily true.

Katsuie had his own logic,
and Hideyoshi had his own logic.

Mitsunari had his own logic,
and Ieyasu had his own logic.

However,
when the times change significantly,
the "force trying to protect what has been" and the "force trying to break the existing framework and
move forward" can clash.
This may be the same in the modern day.

In companies,
in work,

and in life,
the self that wants to stay as it has been and the self that wants to move toward a new path
can clash.

Protecting


has meaning. Changing

also has meaning. What is important is not "protecting because it has always been this way," but thinking about "


what do I want to protect

." Looking at the defeats of Katsuie and Mitsunari, when times change, just protecting the past sometimes cannot resist the great flow.
I think history teaches us that.

Thank you for reading until the end.

If you were wondering,
"What kind of person is Hiroshi?"

I would be happy if you could also read my self-introduction article here😊

▼Hiroshi's self-introduction