多芸は無芸 tagei wa mugei Too Many Accomplishments Make No Accomplishments

A warning to the versatile: the person with a hand in many arts masters none of them, and the proverb says it as a contradiction, many are none, which is the point. Jack of all trades and master of none is the English the dictionaries set beside it, and it explains the paradox away; the title on this page keeps it. It is a modern proverb, the Japanese counterpart of the English one, with older Japanese sayings of the same thought behind it, eight crafts, seven poverties; and Japanese holds the other side too, that an accomplishment saves you, so the reminder to stay with one art is for the person with more than one worth keeping, and which one is yours.

We want you to be as happy with the meaning as you are with Master Takase's art. To learn more, visit Philology of 多芸は無芸.

Each design is Master Japanese Calligrapher Eri Takase's hand-brushed calligraphy of the word or phrase on this page, delivered as a PDF you can print. Every PDF includes the line art, so a tattoo artist or a craftsperson can work from the outline as well as the brushed image.

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