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Do

(in Kanji 道) is Japanese reading of the Chinese word, dao, which means "the way (of life)". The Korean pronunciation is Do (; in Hanja: 道).

This word is used to some traditional Japanese cultures such as Sadō (茶道; tea ceremony) and Kadō (華道; flower arrangement) and implies that they are not just techniques but have spiritual elements. Since the Meiji era, Japanese martial artists have adopted this suffiex for names of martial arts such as Aikido, Judo and Kendo. The convention was introduced to Korea with martial arts themselves during the Japanese rule, and as a result, Korean new martial arts such as Taekwondo follow it.


Do can signify both a "province" (; ) or an "island" (; -- Notice the different Hanja) in Korean, for example, Jeju-do[?] (濟州島), Ganghwa-do[?] (江華島), and Ulleung-do[?] (鬱陵島).

See also Provinces of Korea.


In solfege, do is the name of the first note of the scale.

wikipedia.org dumped 2003-03-17 with terodump