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☆The History of Taido

《The mark of Taido》

The mark of Taido is patterned on the word "Gensei" which means constructing a foundation. The central part represents Hoko

, and the each side parts represent Tate

. That is, they form the word Mujyun

(contradiction). It implies that we should notice contradiction of things and clear up it through the principle of Taido.

■1. Meets with Masters at Martial Arts■
Seiken Syukumine was born of the royal family of Ryukyu Kingdom (Okinawa) in 1925. His grandfather was a lawyer. His father, who was an educator, had a friendship with Gichin Hunakoshi and recommended Karate to him. Why did his father recommend Karate to him? His father probably thought that Karate was effective for him in the improvement of his constitution, because he was a physically weak child, and also effective in intellectual and morale education. When he was an 8 years old, he started to practice Karate under Anko Sadoyama who was a master in Koryu-Karate. Although his practice emphasized the improvement of his construction, it was very severe. For example, a fence of Hibiscus (Bussoge) around his house was made, and he was trained to jump it over. At first the seedling was about 25cm, but the growth was rapid and it continued to grow 1cm a day. It was a fight between the growth force of Hibiscus and the improvement of his jumping ability. In other words, it was a fight between nature and human. And, Syukumine won the fight against nature and gained a sturdy body and extraordinary jumping ability. When he came of age, he was said to be able to jump nearly 2m. When Syukumine was a 12 years old, he became a student of Soko Kishimoto. Kishimoto didn't have any teacher, and he improved his skill and made his style of Karate at actual fighting. Syukumine leaned from him the word "one technique - one thing", that is, "Select the most suitable technique for yourself from all techniques, and pursue it only." Therefore, he never proceeded to next stage until he mastered one thing. So, it was only three forms (Kata), Kusyanku, Naihanchi and Bassai, that he had learned for 5 years from 13 years old to entering the navy. As Naihanchi in particular was the essence of forms, he practiced it knee-deep in a paddy field. It was said to take 2 years to master it only.
■2. Taido was produced from Karate■
Syukumine joined the navy in 1944, and was attached to a special attack corps called Kikusui-tai, which was a corps to accomplish a mission to attack an enemy ships by a special submarine. Although the special submarine had a ruder, it couldn't move except straight basically. Therefore, if an attack of the enemy was quick or started from a distance, it must have been defeated without fighting. This will be easy to understand, if you image this as Karate situations. At present Karate competitions, the result of the battle depends on differences in a stature or a build than a skill. That is, through the life of navy, Syukumine gained a chance to think how to do for that a small and weak one can defeat a mighty one. And fortunately, Syukumine could survive the war, and then he became to devote his energy to creating a new martial art that a small one can defeat a mighty one - skills exceed power. To concentrate on accomplishment of his technique, he kept hard training at uninhabited island or in the mountains. And at last he exhibited a part of the techniques in public in 1949, and he named the new martial art "Gensei-ryu Karate". Although Gensei-ryu Karate was created based on Kishimoto's idea, it has very unique movements, for example, like a "Ebi-geri" or "Syajyo-geri". But, even if it has a unique style different from other Karate, everyone have to compete on same condition or rules in competitions of Karate. Therefore, it was inevitable to face differences in a stature or a build. And then Syukumine begun to have doubts and feel limitations about Karate, and to grope for a new martial art again. As a result, he created a new martial art "Taido" on the basis of Gensei-ryu Karate, but with completely different points from existing Karate or traditional martial arts. It was 33 years ago from now.

Questions & Answers

Answers by the Creator of Taido, Seiken Syukumine. Mr.Syukumine

Q. What does the name of "Taido" mean?
A. When I was a about 40 years old, I had not felt any interest in only power yet, and had sought for something could bring out mental and physical possibility at same time. "Tai (躰)" is composed of "Mi (身)" and "Karada (体)". "Mi (身)" means the mind, "Karada (体)" means a body. Therefore, "Tai (躰)" means the human entity as composed of mind and body, having capacity of physical and mental activities. This word "Tai (躰)" represents what is Taido.
Q. Why a lot of doctors learn Taido?
A. The one who wanted to learn Taido happened to be a medical student, after that I became to teach at the school of medicine. Medical students can understand martial arts more easily, because they know the structure of human body well.
Q. Are Taido or Gensei-ryu Karate spread in also foreign countries?
A. Gensei-ryu Karate has been established from many years ago in Europe and United States. Gensei-ryu Karate is said to be the strongest martial art in France, the Netherlands, and Denmark. While Taido are spread in fourteen foreign countries, and particularly in Finland, Taido is loved as a second martial art following Judo.
Q. What is your future dream?
A. I would like to work at global level at like the United Nations, and also to contribute to the peace of the world.

Soko Kishimoto

Soko Kishimoto, who brought the basic idea in Taido, created his own style in actual fighting only. He thought that it was not effective in a fight to make the body only hard like Gojyu-ryu or Jyouchi-ryu Karate, and rather it is most effective to attack vital parts that can't be trained. Therefore, He placed more emphasis on softness or elasticity than hardness, and he taught Syukumine how to attack vital parts more rapidly and exactly. "Give a punch rapidly as if to cut a wind. Pull back a leg from an attack point as if to catch an air in the back of leg. Turn spear hand (Nukite) to attack at more distant than by a reaction. Strike an elbow (Hiji-ate) at more distant than a length of actual elbow. " ―By Soko Kishimoto.