Daito/shoto

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[IrimiTom]

Does anyone have any idea whether there's any connection between the "Daito" in Daito-ryu and Daito-katana, and the "Shoto" in Shotokan (karate, I think) and Shoto-wakizashi (don't know if the spelling is correct, I'm referring to the short sword samurai carried). What do Shoto and Daito mean in Japanese?

[Largo]

Yeah... none.
Japanese is full of words with the same sounds, but different kanji. It's easy to get confused. In Shotokan, the kanji "sho" is for "pine tree". As for daito-ryu...I'm not particularly sure about that kanji (haven't seen it written in japanese), but I'd venture to guess that you don't need to worry about it.

Largo

[colinlam]

maybe I can help a little bit here ...

Daito-ryu = Big/Large(Dai) East(To) Style
Shotokan = Pine-tree(Sho) Wave(To) Hall

cheers,

Colin Lam