Taifu Shoi Karate Do

What is Taifu Shoi Karate Do?

Taifu Shoi Karate Do is a free style martial art (Karate) that combines the essence of the Korean Martial Arts (Tae Kwon Do), the essence of the Chinese Martial Arts (Kung Fu) and the essence of the Japanese Martial Arts (Shotokan Karate).  It was founded in the year 1970 in Puerto Rico by the Grand Master Hanshi José “Tony” Pabón, 10^th Degree Black Belt.

The philosophical roots in which its techniques are founded are the following:

         The strength and ability in the use of the legs from the Tae Kwon Do [“Tai”]

-         The flexibility and the use of the opponents force and energy from the Kung  Fu [Fu]

-         The strength, aggressiveness and the use of the power of the hands and feet from the Traditional Japanese Karate Style Shotokan [Shoi].

The core techniques of the style follow traditional philosophies, rules of conduct and courtesy traditions from the Japanese Karate as the core martial art from which the style developed.

The Etymology of the name of the style (Taifu Shoi Karate Do)

The creation of the word Taifu Shoi was based on linguistic rules of the Spanish language and phonetics, by using phonetic abbreviations of the names of the original martial arts styles: “Tai”-”fu”- “Shoi”, because the Grand Master’s primary language is Spanish.  He then applied abbreviation rules of his primary language and combined word abbreviations creating the name Taifu Shoi (Tai-Fu-Shoi) to represent the combination of the martial arts.   

The phrase abbreviation “Tai” represents the word “Tae” (from Tae Kwon Do) in Korean language which means “to strike or break with foot”. Tae Kwon Do is the main martial art in Korea and their national sport.

The syllable “Fu” represents the word “Fu” from “Kung Fu or Gong Fu” which is the western term that refers to “Chinese martial arts”.  Although there is no precise English equivalent for the words Kung Fu, it would mean something like “achievement through great effort”.  The Chinese symbol (Kanji) that represents the word “Fu” in Chinese has several meanings depending on its symbolic representation such as “poetical essay”, “exposition” and “man”.

  The words Kung Fu not only mean the practice of Chinese martial arts or a specific technique but it means more; it means  the process of achieving virtue and strengthening of  the body, mind and soul of a man (a person). In the Chinese culture their “martial arts” are known as “wushu”.  The word “Shoi” represents the Japanese word “Shoto” (from Shotokan) meaning “pine-waves” which means the movement of pine needles when the wind blows through them, which was the pen-name of Grand Master Gichin Funakoshi, the founder of Shotokan Karate Do in Japan. “Shotokan” was the name of the first Dojo built by Funakoshi; the Japanese word “kan” means “hall” or “house”. 

The Japanese word “shoi” has several meanings such as “an act”, “deed”, “conduct” or “one’s doing”; it also refers to a military title of a junior officer such as “ensign”.   In Japanese the word “taifu” means “strong wind” or “typhoon”. If we attempt to literally translate the words “Taifu Shoi” it would literally mean “the strong wind’s act, deed or conduct”.  If we see the words as an allegoric reference to the Shotokan karate’s style, which is the foundation martial art of Taifu Shoi Karate Do, it would mean “one’s act or conduct as the strong wind”.

The word “Karate” means “empty hand”.

The word “Do means “the way or the path”.

The core meaning of Taifu Shoi Karate Do