I've often wondered what the difference was--if any--between a taiyouaki and a daiyoukai. Thanks to the wonderful Nobody, I learned that tai actually means fish and dai means big. SO this entire time I have insulting my Fluffy by calling him a fish youkai?

**begs forgiveness from Sesshoumaru**

Just thought I'd share the info! And see if anyone else out there has something to add to the topic....

lmao!!!!! So tai means fish--that's hilarious...poor Sesshy though!

LC Rose wrote:
I've often wondered what the difference was--if any--between a taiyouaki and a daiyoukai. Thanks to the wonderful Nobody, I learned that tai actually means fish and dai means big. SO this entire time I have insulting my Fluffy by calling him a fish youkai?



Eeep! Me too. **begs forgiveness with you**


I had always thought that "tai" and "dai" were the same thing, but just two different ways of transcribing a pictograph into a phonetic language. Just like "taoist" and "daoist", or "Peking" and "Beijing"


Shows what I know.

I had wondered about that too! I had wondered why I had never seen the word Tayoukai, in the magna. I do however remember Totosai, calling Sesshoumaru a Daiyoukai.

Fortunately, I have only rarely used the word taiyoukai in reference to Sesshoumaru. Once, twice at the most. But... hey wait! I think I just used it in the latest chapter of my story!!! *runs off to change it*

it must have been a typo or something because the hiragana for Da is basicly ta with two dashes, i always wondered that too, i understood how daiyoukai but never Tai.

It might be because of the title "Inu no Taishou"? Perhaps someone decided that since that meant great dog general that a great youkai would be a taiyoukai instead of a daiyoukai.

Jupe wrote:
It might be because of the title "Inu no Taishou"? Perhaps someone decided that since that meant great dog general that a great youkai would be a taiyoukai instead of a daiyoukai.

You are probably more than correct, Jupe! Never thought of that origin....

tai seems pretty common. I use Inuyoukai all the time and I have clue what it means. Help please.

I think that Inuyoukai means dog-demon. Youkai meaning demon or spirit, and Inu meaning dog (like Inuyasha).

But if someone knows better than me, I encourage them to smack me over the head with a ruler and set the record straight.

Inuyoukai means dog-spirit in Japanese. Translated into English for the purpose of the manga, show and western culture... it comes out as demon. Its to differentiate it from a spirit/ ghost.

As for tai/dai. I cant say for certain what it means without the Japanese Kanji. If someone can get me the Japanese kanji of that them calling sesshoumaru that i can look it up. Hiragana for these wont matter too much. If you want Direct translation.. you MUST use Kanji.



EDIT: I did some searching since i needed to find the Japanese Characters. So I looked up Shoguns and their titles and such.

The Character for Tai/ Dai in Kanji is ? (the japanese character dont show up! T_T). It is interchangeable. They both mean Large/Great. Such as daimyo - Great Landlord. So Taiyouki/Daiyouki would be Great Spirit/Demon.

As for Inu no Taisho - Great Dog General or Great General of Dog. Its a title.
Inu - dog,
no - is a Particle to indicate possessive ( in the title it would mean "is or of" Depends on how you want to read it ),
Tai - Great,
Sho - General.

To be honest I know very little about the history of Japan. Thank you both. Your explanations sure help a lot.

your welcome.

Also Dai/tai should never be used alone.. like alot of people have done in their stories. the whole word should be used ... taiyouki/daiyouki.

Wow. Thanks for the wealth of information here! Now I need to go and correct my fics....

I've heard from a friend on deviantart that has a Japanese penpal that it's supposed to be daiyoukai but most fanfic authors put taiyoukai(I'm one of those authoress's *nervous laughter*) so I guess it really doesn't matter I guess whatever floats your boat you know

demoniclove wrote:
tai seems pretty common. I use Inuyoukai all the time and I have clue what it means. Help please.

It means "Dog Demon" n.n

(Sorry I double posted but I really had the urge to help this person with the definition since I read a TON of fanfics so I started to pick up on alot of the Japanese vocabulary used)

I think this was posted in another thread but I can't find it, heh.

freelance-manga.com/forum/index.php?topic=1249.0

According to the few fluent Japanese speakers I've mentioned it to, they all went with "Dai", but it sounds like it really depends on how you do the pronunciation.

Wow.... Dokuga hates me... I've tried to update this like 20000000x lol

After talking to my Japanese friend about the Tai/Dai Kanji character

The correct term pronouncation is Daiyoukai.


and It is still correct for Inutaishou to be pronounced with Tai.


real examples -

daimyo : Great Landlord

Seii taishougun:great general who subdues the eastern barbarians.


I had more to say but after rewriting this up 50000000000000x I give up lmao.

Japanese name meaning for: Dai
Japanese: Great
Japanese: Big

In Chinese: there are two sources of this surname, both from the Spring and Autumn period (722–481 bc). At one time, there existed a state of Dai at one time (in modern Henan province). When this was defeated by the state of Cheng, residents of the defeated state adopted Dai as their surname. Additionally, a duke of the state of Song was called Dai, and his descendants adopted Dai as their surname.
Found info here: baby-names.familyeducation.com/name-meaning/dai?detoured=1

Wow. Thanks for all the wonderful responses to this! I love learning all of this information as it makes me a better writer. If I could, I'd give karma to you all in one swoop.