Honte

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  Difficulty: Intermediate   Keywords: Go term

Chinese: 本手 (bĕn shŏu)
Japanese: 本手 (honte)
Korean: 정수 ( 正手 ) (jeongsu)

Honte is a Japanese go term adopted by English. A move which is honte ('the proper move') is a solid play that leaves few or no weaknesses behind. Often honte looks slow, passive, or defensive. But honte is not passive or purely defensive play. In fact, if a play carries no aim or threat, it is not honte. The opposite of honte is zokushu (vulgar play) or usote.

Example:

[Diagram]

Solid connection

B1 is the quintessential honte. It may look slow, but it threatens to capture the white+circle stones.

[Diagram]

Solid connection (cont.)

W2 - W4 saves those stones. Black keeps sente.

(Note: If W4 is played at a, then Black at W4 will capture the White stones. See Two Stone Corner Squeeze for more.)

[Diagram]

Usote

B1 is usote. It also threatens the white+circle stones, but after White saves them, Black must go back and repair his defect with B5. Black loses sente.

For more examples, see Honte Library.

While honte can be a vital point, the two are not the same. See kyuusyo (after CM of KGS) - MK. (See footnotes at [1])

"Honte" can also refer to a player's attitude towards the game, as in "The issue here is what it means to be a "honte" go player. First, think about why we play the game. Surely it's because we enjoy it: no one is forcing us to play." [2]


[1] Discussion on Honte definition

Bob Myers: No, I don't think honte and kyuusho are equivalent. Honte, as described above, is used to describe a move which superficially appears slow but is actually very solid, usually in the context of the opening. Kyuusho, on the other hand, simply refers to the vital point of a shape, for either attack or defense.

Bob McGuigan: The kanji 本 for hon in honte 本手 is the same as in hon 本 "book" or nihon 日本 "Japan" and its meaning in this case is "real", "genuine", "regular" or "true" as in honmono 本物 "the real thing". So honte would be a move which is real or straight-forward, as opposed to tricky or flashy. Maybe "sober" is a good attribute of a honte. I guess "honest" is OK as a translation, but it has always seemed to me to be a little strange, as if someone picked an ordinary English word that looked the most like "honte".

Bill: But calling a play "too honest" is a mild criticism. My impression is that such plays are always honte. Still, I think you are right, Bob, "honest" is not such a good translation.

Richard Cant: The translation of Kageyama's book "Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go" uses "the proper move" as the translation of "Honte".

RussellKhan: In Sakata Eio's "Tesuji and Anti-Suji of Go" it gets translated as "the real move". That's actually what brought me to this particular page -and I should thank you all, I think I understand the term much better now.

HectorM: I have very little knowledge of japanese, but when I read the definition of honte, the word 'honest' did come to mind. In american sports, the term 'keep the defense honest' is very common, meaning that the defense should stay solid and not be greedy or overreaching. for example, in basketball making sure that the three point line is well defended and not concentrating too much on the paint is considered 'honest'. in this context, it seems to me that honest is a very good translation of 'honte' as i understand it, meaning solid and not overly ambitious.

John F. It just occurred to me that "the (most) sensible move" might be a useful translation. The deictic "the" (or "the most") is important, capturing part of the meaning of hon.

[2] Takemiya Masaki, American Go E-Journal Volume 9, #62: December 15, 2008


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This is a copy of the living page "Honte" at Sensei's Library.
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