losing one's own way by blindly imitating others; forgetting one's original skill while trying to copy someone else
A set phrase from a classical Chinese story. Used to warn against abandoning one's own strengths in pursuit of another's style, only to end up with nothing. Rare in modern conversation; mostly found in literary or proverbial contexts.
He tried to imitate the foreign method and ended up losing his own way, like the man from Kantan.
From a classical Chinese parable in which a young man from Shouling went to Handan (Kantan) to learn the local elegant gait, but failed to master it and forgot his own way of walking, crawling home instead. The expression is used metaphorically in Japanese to caution against losing one's identity through imitation.