Taido
躰道Taido is a modern Japanese budo by Seiken Shukumine, derived from gensei-ryu karate and built on dynamic movements around the body's own axis.
Quick Facts
JapanCharacter & Origin
Training
Who It Suits
Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
Editorial rating on a 0–3 scale, based on how much room each area gets in ordinary training.
Catalogs & Databases for Taido
About Taido
Taido is a modern Japanese budo that, according to the Digital Daijisen dictionary, was founded after the Second World War by the Okinawan karateka Seiken Shukumine. Store norske leksikon defines it as a modern Japanese combat sport developed from traditional karate and explains the name as the way of the body, as does the Finnish YLE, according to which the whole body counts as the weapon in taido. The University of Tokyo says taido was systematized from gensei-ryu, a branch of karate that Shukumine named in 1953, according to the Finnish federation.
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According to the World Taido Federation, the Japan Taido Association was founded on 23 January 1965, and Store norske leksikon dates the introduction of taido in the same year. The Finnish federation, however, writes that Shukumine had already named the new system in 1962 and in 1965 arranged it into a coherent form. According to Store norske leksikon, taido differs from karate in dynamic movements around the body's own axis, and punches and kicks are delivered lying down, standing and in the air. The rules of the World Taido Federation use five movement groups, sen, un, hen, nen and ten, and with the terms unsoku and unshin. Competitions cover hokei, jissen and tenkai, and the rules permit contact, but a hit must be controlled. According to its own website, Shukumine founded the World Taido Federation on 1 April 1984, the Japanese Wikipedia gives 1983 and the English one 1984 and 1985. The World Taido Federation calls the Finnish organization the largest in Europe. Store norske leksikon estimates about 4000 active members internationally in twelve countries.
History
According to Store norske leksikon, Seiken Shukumine was born in 1925 and died in 2001. The National Diet Library of Japan lists the book Japan Taido Association, published in November 2016 for the ninetieth anniversary of his birth. The Finnish federation states that in 1953 he named his karate style gensei-ryu, in 1962 the new system taido, and in 1965 he founded the Japan Taido Federation and the Taido Hon-in. Store norske leksikon writes that he introduced taido in 1965 because he considered the linear movements of karate less effective. According to the Japanese Wikipedia, he died on 26 November 2001 in Ito at the age of 76. According to the Finnish federation, the first Japanese championship took place in 1967. It says that the Finn Kauko Korhonen earned the first Finnish black belt in Japan in 1968 to 1969 and in 1970 founded Taidokan in Sweden, the first taido club outside Japan. Taido was brought to Finland in 1972 by the student Minoru Okanda, and the first beginners' course began in 1974. According to YLE, Suomen Taidoliitto was founded in 1981, and according to the Finnish federation it was dissolved in 2014, with taido passing as a section under the Finnish Karate Federation.
How it differs
Store norske leksikon states that taido differs from traditional karate, from which it developed, in its dynamic movements around the body's own axis. The World Taido Federation emphasizes that taido techniques rest on dynamic body movement, not on punches and kicks delivered from a static stance. Japanese Wikipedia adds that in defence taido prefers dodging with the body to intercepting an attack. The World Taido Federation rules forbid punches to the head, grabbing, grappling and throws in jissen, and allow only controlled punches and kicks to the torso, sweeps and scissor takedowns. According to them, only hand techniques may be used against a downed opponent, and every kick must be followed by pulling the leg back.
Technique
According to the Japanese Wikipedia, taido is a budo that develops attack and defense by changing the body axis, and it describes five sotai. Sentai is a turn around the leg as an axis, untai a forward jump off the rear leg, hentai a fall with a change of axis, nentai a body twist and tentai an axis rotation, including somersaults. The World Taido Federation rules sort techniques into five classes: sengi, ungi, hengi, nengi and tengi. The federation describes unsoku as footwork tied to a technique and unshin as gymnastic movements adding a third dimension to two-dimensional footwork. The rules require an attack to come directly from unsoku or unshin. After the start from kamae the competitor must perform at least 45° of unsoku, and techniques without body movement are penalized. Kicks and strikes may hit the belt and the areas above it up to the neck, while the head, neck and groin are forbidden. In 2015 Igarashi, Ino, Ozawa and colleagues from Tokai University studied manji-geri, a kick often used in taido, and found that experienced practitioners bend both the supporting and the kicking knee more.
Training
According to the World Taido Federation, training includes, besides competition forms, basic training, application training and training focused on innovation and creation. In 2008 YLE described training as basic techniques, solo hokei and a fight on the tatami, and said a black belt requires about six years of regular training. In 2017 the university weekly Waseda Weekly presented taido as a budo that seems to combine elements of gymnastics and karate, with somersaults, handsprings and back flips. Under World Taido Federation rules, hokei are fixed forms of techniques and movements against imaginary opponents, which the competitor may modify after announcing it to the head referee. The Finnish federation says juniors do not practise hokei and start them at around eleven to twelve while preparing for the blue belt. The Kokushikan University club writes that most students begin taido only at university and learn there to evade attacks instead of blocking them.
Ranks and progression
Store norske leksikon gives the blue belt for 6th and 5th kyu, green for 4th and 3rd kyu and brown for 2nd and 1st kyu, followed by the black belt with eight dan grades in total. The same text speaks of five kyu grades, though it lists six. Japanese Wikipedia gives a scale from 6th kyu to 9th dan. The Finnish federation gives juniors a white belt with stripes and mon marks as 7th kyu, followed by blue, green, two browns and black, and according to it dan can be taken only from eighteen. According to the World Taido Federation, about 120 to 130 kyu grades and 8 to 15 dan are awarded in Finland each year. The federation rules admit to the world championship only competitors aged sixteen or older with at least 1st dan, and for the European championship 2nd kyu is enough. Referees of the world and European championships must hold at least 4th dan, and international referee classification is awarded by Taido Hon-in.
Competition
The 2023 rules of the World Taido Federation have no weight categories. Jissen lasts two minutes, one and a half minutes for juniors, and three minutes in the gold and bronze matches at the World and European Championships. Points are yuko for a quarter point, waza-ari for a half point, and ippon, which ends the match. The winner is whoever first scores an ippon, or whoever has more points or fewer warnings when time runs out. Hokei is judged by three referees with flags, and the winner is whoever gets two or three. Tenkai lasts 25 to 30 seconds, is judged by six referees with a maximum of 70 points, and half a point is deducted per half second of deviation. The Finnish federation says that the first European Championships were held in 1987 in Uddevalla and the first official World Championships in 1993 in Japan. According to it, other hosts were Helsinki in 1997 and 2013, Göteborg in 2005, Hiroshima in 2009 and Kofu in 2017. According to the Japan Taido Association programme, the 57th Japanese Championships were held on 17 November 2024 in Saku.
Today
The World Taido Federation lists as its members the national associations of the USA, Australia, Denmark, the Netherlands, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Portugal and Sweden. According to it, the Japan Taido Association has over 1500 members in more than ninety clubs, and it describes the Finnish organization as the largest in Europe, with twenty active clubs and over 600 practitioners. YLE, however, reported in 2008 about thirty clubs in Finland. Store norske leksikon writes that taido came to Norway in 2009 and falls there under Norges Kampsportforbund. The American Taido Association was founded in 2015 according to the WTF, has been a full member since 2019 and has a single dojo in Dunwoody, Georgia. The city of Numazu announced a Japanese-American friendly taido match for 12 July 2025 at the Koryo Arena hall. Svenska Taidoförbundet links to the website of the 2027 world championship in Sweden.
Did you know
The Finnish federation states that in 1943 Shukumine served in the kaiten naval unit, that is, human torpedoes. The Japanese Wikipedia, citing a book from 1980, mentions a legend according to which he broke 34 roof tiles at once with the edge of his hand during a live television broadcast. According to the Japanese Wikipedia, the singer Yutaka Ozaki practiced taido as a child and the writer Hideo Yokoyama at university, and taido is the subject of the shojo manga 瞳をそらさずにいて. The magazine Sportiva of the publisher Shueisha states that in chapter 121 of the manga Jujutsu Kaisen, Yuji Itadori uses the manji-geri kick, and that Tetsuji Nakano won the world championship four times in a row. The PlayStation Blog wrote in 2023 that the character Reina in Tekken 8 fights in an acrobatic style based on taido and that Tetsuji Nakano collaborated on her movements.
Frequently asked questions
Who founded taido and when?
Taido was founded by Seiken Shukumine. According to the World Taido Federation, the Japan Taido Association was established on 23 January 1965, but the Finnish federation says he had already chosen the name taido in 1962.
Is a strike to the head allowed in taido?
No. The rules of the World Taido Federation allow a hit only from the waist up to the neck, the head, neck and groin are prohibited, and contact must be controlled.
What disciplines does taido competition have?
According to the rules of the World Taido Federation, competition is held in hokei, that is fixed forms, in jissen fighting and in tenkai, which six judges score with a maximum of 70 points.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.