Jodo
name, noun
name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A Japanese martial art using a short staff, originally as a defence against swords. uncountable
"Every Saturday after the karate class there was a jodo class (not judo, but jodo—the way of the short staff)."
- 2 Synonym of pure land: the various realms of the buddhas and boddhisattvas. Japanese, uncountable
- 3 Alternative letter-case form of jodo: any of various other pure lands. Japanese, alt-of, uncountable
"Simple faith in Buddha's grace was all that one needed to cross this ocean of samsara to the Jodo or 'Pure Land'."
Proper Noun
- 1 Synonym of Pure Land: a sect of Buddhism and its primary afterlife, the seat of the Amida Buddha. Japanese
"...zealous persons, chiefly the followers of the Sect of Siodo..."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"Jodo is a Japanese martial art using short staffs called "Jou" and wooden sword."
Etymology
Etymology 1
A borrowing of Japanese 杖道 (jōdō, literally “way of the staff”).
Etymology 2
A borrowing of Japanese 浄土 (jōdo, literally “pure land”), q.v.
Etymology 3
A borrowing of Japanese 浄土 (Jōdo, literally “Pure Land”), q.v.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.