#don't ask be about nabeshima or hori

[jibuyo]

If you’ve played Samurai Warriors Chronicles 3 or Empires 4, you know that there’re in battle encounters between the opposing characters (in Empires they sometimes include NPCs as well). Sometimes they just reflect the in game relationship, sometimes they’re just for fun, but sometimes they are based on history/historical anecdote (or a mix).

When you put Naoe Kanetsugu and Kobayakawa Takakage against each other, you get this (I don’t have an English screenshot, so have my weird translation):

Naoe: I’ve seen a person who has the talent to govern the land (=all under the heaven). It’s unfortunate that you have wisdom and aspiration, but you lack courage.

Takakage: You are also a talented person who could rule the land (=all under the heaven). It’s unfortunate that you have aspiration and are courageous, but wisdom...

This one is based on a historical anecdote (paraphrased):

One day Hideyoshi was musing:

“For governing the land aspiration, courage and wisdom are needed. There’s no daimyō, who would have a combination of these three, but there are three rear vassals (=vassals of Hideyoshi’s vassals), who have two of them.

The first one is Uesugi’s Naoe Kanetsugu, who has courage and aspiration, but lacks wisdom.

The second one is Mōri’s Kobayakawa Takakage, who has wisdom and aspiration, but lacks courage.

The third one is Ryūzōji’s Nabeshima Naoshige, who has wisdom and courage, but lacks aspiration.

(There is also a version with Hori Naomasa, instead of Nabeshima Naoshige)

It’s not wrong to say that I took over the land, because Takakage lacked the courage.”

It doesn’t mean that Naoe was an idiot and Takakage was a coward. The “wisdom” is more like... an ability to judge things correctly, the “courage” is more like an ambition (to rule the land) or facing dangerous situations.