How to Read “Even a hundred-kan horse has a weak point”
Hyakkan no uma ni mo kechi
Meaning of “Even a hundred-kan horse has a weak point”
“Even a hundred-kan horse has a weak point” means that even highly skilled people sometimes make mistakes.
Just as an excellent horse that can carry a hundred kan of heavy cargo sometimes kicks or acts up, even masters and experts are not perfect.
This proverb is mainly used in two situations. First, when a skilled person fails, it helps us accept that failure with tolerance rather than blame.
Second, when we ourselves fail at something we’re good at, it comforts us and keeps us from being too hard on ourselves.
Even today, athletes make mistakes in crucial moments. Veteran employees sometimes make unexpected errors.
In such times, this saying reminds us that “no one is perfect.” It helps us understand that being highly capable and never failing are two different things.
Everyone makes mistakes sometimes.
Origin and Etymology
No clear written records explain the origin of this proverb. However, we can make interesting observations from the words themselves.
“Hyakkan” is a unit of weight. One kan equals about 3.75 kilograms, so a hundred kan is about 375 kilograms.
This refers to a strong, excellent horse that can carry very heavy loads. During the Edo period, people commonly expressed a horse’s value and ability by weight.
How much cargo a horse could carry was the clearest standard for showing its practical value.
The word “kechi” describes a horse kicking or acting wildly. In other words, even the most excellent and powerful horse sometimes behaves unexpectedly.
This proverb likely emerged from an era when horses were essential to daily life. People who worked with horses every day witnessed that even well-trained famous horses were not perfect.
From these observations, they drew a lesson that the same applies to human abilities. This wisdom gradually became established as a proverb.
Interesting Facts
The weight “hyakkan” in this proverb may be hard to imagine today. It actually equals about six rice bales.
During the Edo period, ordinary pack horses typically carried 30 to 50 kan of cargo. This shows that a horse capable of carrying a hundred kan was exceptionally superior.
The character “kechi” is a rare word rarely used in modern times. It combines the horse radical with the character for “contract.”
It expresses the image of a horse suddenly acting wild. The use of such a special character suggests this proverb was born in a culture deeply connected with horses.
Usage Examples
- He’s a veteran craftsman, but even a hundred-kan horse has a weak point, so this mistake can’t be helped
- Even that famous doctor sometimes misdiagnoses patients, so even a hundred-kan horse has a weak point
Universal Wisdom
The proverb “Even a hundred-kan horse has a weak point” contains deep insight about human ability and limitations.
Why are we surprised when excellent people fail? Why do we sometimes criticize them harshly?
It’s because we unconsciously hold the unrealistic expectation that “excellent people should always be perfect.”
However, human ability is never stable or constant. Physical condition, mental state, environment, and chance all interact in complex ways.
These factors determine performance at any given moment. No matter how much we refine our skills or gain experience, we cannot completely escape this uncertainty.
This proverb has been passed down for generations because people repeatedly needed to confirm this truth.
Excessive expectations of excellent people not only burden them but also create intolerance among those around them.
Conversely, understanding that everyone can fail brings kindness and tolerance to society.
The desire for perfection and the tolerance to accept imperfection. The balance between these two is the wisdom that keeps human society healthy.
Through the image of a single horse, our ancestors tried to convey this universal truth to us.
When AI Hears This
When we view the situation of a small horsefly landing on a hundred-kan horse from the perspective of complexity science, a surprising fact emerges.
The horse weighs about 375 kilograms. The horsefly weighs only about 0.1 grams. The mass ratio is 3.75 million to one.
Despite this overwhelming difference, why can the horsefly make the horse uncontrollable?
The answer lies in the “critical point.” The biological system of a horse normally maintains a stable state.
But the moment the horsefly bites, pain information travels through the nervous system to the brain. The amount of signals processed there exceeds a certain threshold.
The moment this threshold is crossed, the horse’s behavior undergoes a phase transition to “rampage mode.” A state change from stillness to motion occurs.
This phenomenon has the same structure as an experiment where you drop sand grains one by one onto a sand pile.
The sand pile is initially stable, but the moment you drop a certain grain, an avalanche occurs. You cannot predict which grain will be the trigger.
But if the entire system approaches a critical state, just one grain can collapse everything.
The 2008 Lehman Shock was the same. The small event of one investment bank’s collapse exceeded the critical point of the entire financial system.
It made the giant horse of the world economy run wild. This proverb had already grasped the essence of complex systems.
It understood that the size of a system and the size of its trigger are unrelated.
Lessons for Today
This proverb teaches us the importance of not fearing failure too much. In an era when we see only others’ successes on social media, we unconsciously feel pressure to “be perfect.”
However, even the most excellent people naturally fail sometimes.
When you challenge something and fail, it doesn’t diminish your value. Rather, it’s proof that you’re challenging yourself.
What matters is learning from failure and applying it next time. Also, when people around you fail, remember these words.
You can have the tolerance to watch warmly rather than blame them.
In modern society especially, specialization has increased. A single mistake can sometimes have major impacts. That’s precisely why we need a culture that tolerates failure.
If we try to hide failures, problems become more serious. An environment where we can openly acknowledge failures creates truly high-quality work.
Aim for perfection while accepting imperfection. This sense of balance will help you grow.
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