The 'Do' in Taichido

Why do we call ourselves Taichido? what does it mean
- and why is it to purists a mishmash of languages?

The first answer is always: Why Not?

The second answer is more complicated. Over the years various
people have commented upon the word "taichido", saying quite correctly
that it is a mix a two languages; Chinese and Japanese. I must confess that this
is so and would only add that it might be a mixture of three; those two and English!

There follows a quite complicated justification, citing ancient and modern Chinese and Japanese martial art cultures, religions and societies to substantiate the entomological head on collision that is 'taichido'; but perhaps it just means "do tai chi"!

To "Romanize" any word from any other written and spoken language is to make that word look like and sound like our own i.e. English. This is very difficult with Chinese and Japanese because their 'written' words are pictures or more correctly, picturegrames and in most cases, one 'word' is illustrated with more than one picture. A simple sentence may therefore contain dozens of separate picture-grams. In both languages just precisely where one picturegram is placed in relation to the one above, below or to the left and right may drastically alter the meaning of the word or sentence. This is further complicated in the Chinese in so much as that the spoken language is based upon five tones - so any one word may mean up to five different things even before it is written down! For instance, the picturegram that illustrates "tao" may sometimes be articulated as "do" ... and both kung fu and gongfu are valid romanizations (or ...'sations!) of the picturegram that illustrates "achievement" and "man".

In Chinese terms, tao or dao (or do?) is an experiential term (a thing ones 'does') and in Japanese terms it is "a way of attaining courage through the practice of correct moral doctrine".

Thus, double or is it a triple thus, taichido! So it is quite literally, 'a way of tai chi'. Not 'The' Way, or Your Way (unless you enjoy these pages) but Our Way. And we hope you do enjoy these pages, and a little of our way drops into your way...