KANAE
129Japanese idiom 四字熟語

下手の横好き

Heta no yokozuki

“Unskilled, but devoted.”

Word for wordThe sideways love of the clumsy.

The meaning

One can deeply love what one does poorly — and that is perfectly fine. Pleasure does not wait for talent; and sometimes, by force of love, talent ends up coming.

At the origin

An affectionate expression for unpretentious passions.

The characters

  1. 下手 hetaunskilled
  2. noof (link)
  3. 横好き

The complete word-by-word reading, in KANAE.

ParticleLinks two words: possession or belonging, like “of”.

In practice

Practice without shame what you love without excelling at it.

Themes

Similar proverbs

Related expressions

See also