In both Japanese print and television media Taido has been recognised as a martial art having "philosophical depth" and "creativity". It has been deemed as "the martial art of the 21st century".

The Japanese character "Tai" is composed of two parts; "Mi" (Shin) and "Karada". "Mi" can be translated as mind, "Karada" can be translated as body. Together the two signs form the concept "Tai" which is difficult to translate directly but usually translates into the combination of the human body and mind. In daily use "Tai" is translated human being. "Taido" is most often translated into "the way of the body".

Taido is frequently called "The martial art of the 21st century". What lies behind this statement is the technical and theoretical principles which distinguish Taido from other martial arts. Japanese martial arts are, in general, refined versions of old Bujutsu techniques. Budo and Bujutsu techniques work mainly in the two-dimentional space, meaning; forwards - backwards, and from side to side. The three-dimentional principle of Taido is new and does not exist in other systems of Budo or Bujutsu. The methods for altering position towards an opponent is equally new and exclusive of Taido.

Taido techniques can be percieved as a form of phycical art, while at the same time the training of the techniques develop and sharpen the body and mind of the Taido-ka. As with other Budo-systems one purpose of training is to enable the Taido-ka to defend himself. However, as Taido is much more than a form of self-defence, the training does not primarily focus on teaching the Taido-ka the quickest way of becomming efficient in close quarter's combat. In real life self-defence situations, Taido techniques are not meant to be deployed in the way they are performed in daily training. The techniques are not to be evaluated solitarily but as a whole which, at a high level of physical skill and mental development, enables the Taido-ka to improvise and deploy all possible ways of utilizing the body in attack and defence, when combat is unavoidable