Quote:
Keith Larman wrote:
I'll bite as well because I think there is something really odd about the original comment about daito ryu and swords.
The word daito in sword parlance simply means, well, large sword. Dai or O (ya know, O-sensei) means "big or large or great". The kanji for To here means "sword". It is often used if you're referring to the large sword in a daisho (meaning long and short sword "set"). So the katana is a daito while the tanto or wakizashi of a set is the sho (or shoto).
My understanding is that daito in Daito Ryu refers to a different kanji entirely for To. Something along the lines of "Great East". Same dai, different to.
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Keith, you are quite correct. The "daito" of Daito Ryu is 大東 (great south) while the the other is 大刀 (big sword). 大刀 is a pretty uncommon usage. Usually they go with 太刀(big sword) or just katana 刀. I will add however that usage rules in kanji are a mess, and I don't ever expect to fully understand them.