Tao Family

The Tao Family(朝倉道, Dào-shi) is a fictional family in the Shaman King universe.

About
The Tao family, an ancient Chinese family known for their shaman capabilities. As history went on, they become ostracized for their abilities and hunted down. As a result, the Tao family became bitter and lost their belief in the kindness of humanity. Ren and his sister, Jun, were raised with these beliefs in mind. Ren is the current heir to the family.

Doctrine of Tao


For many years have the family members been raised using the doctrine of Tao or Taoism. Tao(道, Pinyin: Dào, Cantonese: Dou) is a Chinese character often translated as ‘The way of nature'. In ancient China, dao could be modified by other nouns. The concept of Tao is based upon the understanding that the only constant in the Universe is change (see I Ching, the "Book of Changes") and that we must understand and be in harmony with this change. The change is a constant flow from non-being into being, potential into actual, yin into yang, female into male. The symbol of the Tao, called the Taijitu, is the yin yang confluently flowing into itself in a circle. To put it simple does Tao mean the way and order of the Universe.

To the Tao family the way of Tao also means that one has a nature, a way of acting that is natural to them and that it should be followed at all times.

However Yúan only saw one side of the world. Being forced to carry the ancestors' souls, he did not gain the wisdom that they were intended to give him. Instead he received their sadness. It is because of this that he lost all trust in humanity and shamans outside the family and, sadly, he ended up teaching his children the same thing.

The Tao family see the doctrine of Tao in a way where one should not doubt and, should one doubt, they would become weak. "Wu Bi Mu" meaning "I do not doubt", was uttered by Ren as he was finally able to go against his father, who claimed that he was doubting himself and had forgotten his Tao.

As the doctrine of Tao reflects upon the family's nature they have also used the symbol as their family symbol even tattooing it onto their backs, while Ren had his tattoo made forcefully.

2000 Years of History
In the manga it is explained by Yúan Tao, that they become ostracized for their abilities and hunted down. As a result, the Tao family became bitter and lost their belief in the kindness of humanity. In the anime, he explains further. According to him, the Tao Family worked under the dynasty and the emperor himself, to create peace and properity and sending many lives into darkness. They were thrown into dangerous situations and survived throughout history. However, as the civilization advanced, their shaman abilities were increasingly despised. In the end, they were looked upon as monsters and became detested. Kicked out of the capital, they were forced out into the frontier. The history of their work for the dynasty was thrown into darkness and the Tao family was forgotten. They felt betrayed as the people the family had once tried to protect turned on them in disgust.

Engraving the Tao Family’s name into history once more
After being forced to live on the frontiers of China for many years, the Tao Family experienced a revival of sorts when Tao Yúan, a member of the branch family, married Tao Ran, heir to the main branch, and became head of the family. He decided it was his responsibility to engrave the Tao Family’s name into history once more. At the same time, Yúan also saw it as his duty to carry the souls of the ancestors with him and therefore took on an armour of memory tablets that would later be used as a medium for his oversoul, Daidouho.

When his two children were born, he merely saw them as tools for the Tao Family to use to regain their lost honour. Because of this, he made his son Tao Ren undergo unusually harsh training to become Shaman King. He also taught Ren about the cruelty of humanity and that he shouldn't trust anyone outside the family. Tao Jun learned how to become a Dàoshì(a daoist spellcaster with the ability to control Jiang Shis, see below) from her mother so that she could support Ren. To this end, Tao Ching killed the Kung-Fu Master Lee Pailong so that he could become a guardian for Jun. Yúan believed that by making Ren Shaman King he would be able to restore the former glory of the Tao Family. However, besides giving Ren a strong body and shamanic abilities, the legacy that Yúan passed to Ren was one of hatred of everyone and everything, a conquer or die philosophy. Because of this, Ren never cared for his family and made it his goal to become Shaman King only so that he could kill every person in the world.

During this time, Yúan would constantly use his oversoul Daidouho. His idea of a good upbringing was cruel and malevolent to Jun and Ren and, during all this time, their mother and grandfather could only watch, believing Yúan’s ways to be the right ones.

Tao Ren VS Asakura Yoh
The first mention of the Tao Family in the present story was when Ren came to Tokyo. His goal was to take Amidamaru from Yoh, whether willingly or by force. This however ended with Ren and Yoh engaging in a fierce battle, where Yoh learned about 100% Hyou Gattai and how to achieve it, eventually defeating Ren, and preventing the young Tao from taking Amidamaru for himself.

Tao Ching

 * See More: Tao Ching

Tao Ching(Dào Ching) is the oldest still living member of the Tao, or at least, amongst those that are known of. His first appearance was made after Tao Yúan had been defeated twice by his son and he still tried to fight on. Threatening to kill him if he continued, Yúan finally stopped fighting his son and his friends.

Tao Yúan

 * See More: Tao Yúan

Tao Yúan(道円,Dào Yúan, En Tao in the english anime) is the Father of Tao Ren and Tao Jun. He was once a member of the Tao branch family and considered nothing more but a talented Taoist.

When Tao Ran, the only heir to the main family, needed to find herself a husband. Although the trials were made to be tough in order to find a suited husband, Yúan defeated Ran with one hit and it was love at first sight.

He became her husband and the new head of the Tao Family. He was a ruthless ruler of the Tao Family who believed heavily in the doctrine of Tao. Due to his family's long history of being shunned he has lost all trust to people outside of his family. He branded the family symbol on his back and would continue to carry the spirits of his ancestors as an amour for his body.

Tao Ran

 * See More: Tao Ran

Tao Ran(Dào Ran) is the wife of Tao Yúan and the mother of Tao Jun and Tao Ren. When she was younger she was the only heir to main family and had to find herself a husband. After telling of many suitors, Yúan would finally pass the trials, and it was love at first sight. She would eventually marry him, and give birth to two children.

When she first appeared, alongside Ching, she calmly pleaded her husband to stop the fighting as he would not wish to be killed. Throughout the series she appears quite calm, and even laughed when she told about their family specialty being poisoning people.

Tao Jun

 * See More: Tao Jun

Tao Jun(道 潤, Dào Jun) is the first born child of Tao Ran and Tao Yúan. Already as a little child she was trained as a Doshi was given a Jiang Shi as a guardian ghost.

After her little brother, Tao Ren, was born she was raised to support him becoming Shaman King and is towards this day still heavily devoted to helping him.

Tao Ren

 * See More: Tao Ren

Tao Ren(道 蓮, Dào Lián, known as Len Tao in the english anime) is the second born child of Tao Ran and Tao Yúan. As a little child he was trained to become Shaman King and given the spirit of Bason, a chinese war general who served the Tao Family when he was alive. He grew up to become a hatefilled person, however after facing Asakura Yoh in the Shaman Tournament he realizes that he must put his hate aside and becomes an entirely new person. He is currently the heir to the family, after his father, and married Iron Maiden Jeanne, which he had a son with, Tao Men.

Abilities and Powers
The Tao Family has lived for over 2000 years and have had a large amount of various abillities, including basic Shaman abilities to the abillities of a Daoshi that controlls dead bodies with paper talismen. It even seem they have Ikato skills amongst the family and lately have Tao Jun learned how to revive the dead, by training under Gandhara Team Leader, Sati

Jiang Shi
Even though they have a large variation of powers it would seem there specialty lies within creating Jiang Shis as the basement is seen filled with such ones.

A Jiang Shi is a stitched together corpse reanimated by either oversouling the body, or a Dàoshi priestess using a talisman to control it. Because the body is stitched up it can be improved it many ways stitching together only strong body parts. A soul can also be placed inside the corpse using something like Hyoui Gattai to give it muscle memory of a fighting technique or other skills.

As explained by Jun, they are specialists in creating strong bodies to combine with strong souls, in order to create even stronger warriors. As later shown with Pailong they can also add mechanical parts to the body to increase power, in this case adding a piston to increase the power of his basic punch. Also they seem to use the Jiang Shi to create servants, and horses, and other sorts of things useful in the house.

Lee Pailong

 * See More: Lee Pailong

Lee Pailong was once a Kung fu, and martial arts, master who was killed by the Tao Family. His soul was then forcefully bound to his dead corpse, that disappeared during his funeral, and turned into a Jiang Shi for the young Tao Jun to control. He was later freed and is now working together with Jun in order to complete his "Dǎodàn-do" fighting style.

Gofukuseitai

 * See More: Gofukuseitai

These are the elite Jiang Shi of the Tao Family. Their leader is Shaolin, the master of Pailong, but as their leader he is known as Ichi-Johtoh. They were made with the corpses of humans who had mastered several fields. As Jiang Shi, their bodies are not only made of flesh but also have animal parts and mechanical components that were added to their corpses. Tao Yúan trained them to be loyal to the Tao Family though more often then not they are used as cover to hide the strength of the leader.

Torture Brothers

 * See More: Torture Brothers

They were two brothers, a jail warden and an executioner, of the Qing dynasty. They know all the numerous torture methods of China's whole history. They're part of Tao's army of Jiang Shi now, and they're in the worst category. Unlike other Jiang Shi, they are composed of several corpses. They each have special arms in which numerous torture devices and weapons can be attached to. They also both have an electric generator inside their bodies and therefore they can also use electric tools such as chainsaws and drills.

Kinbaku-Johtoh, the older brother, takes the appearence of a very tall and thin zombie, standing at over two meters. Due to his evil personality he likes to torture people slowly, bit by bit.

Taibatsu-Johtoh, the younger brother, is much taller and fatter than his brother, standing at nearly four meters. Due to his cruel personality he likes to scratch and cut people.

Shu and Kyo

 * See More: Shu and Kyo

These are the Jiang Shi that belong to Tao Ran, the mother of Jun and Ren. Shu was a military strategist in the northern region of Wu during the later Han Dynasty. Kyo was a general for the Northern Qi Dynasty during the period of Southern and Northern Dynasties. Both were very handsome in life and Ran used special techniques to increase their hotness even more as Jiang Shi. Tao Yúan was supposedly very jealous when he first saw his wife's spirits but Ran just thought it was cute.

Oversouls and Attacks
Because of there deep hatred and thirst for revenge, has the souls of the Tao Family never entered nirvana and instead stayed in the world of the living. When Tao Yúan became head of the Tao Family he decided to gather all of the spirits, of the Tao Dynasty, into an "amour of memorial tablets" worn by him all the time, and later on created two oversouls.

O.S. Dà Dào Wáng
O.S. "Dà Dào Wáng"(O.S.大道王) Description: Tao Yúan's O.S. is an aggregation of all the ancestral souls of the Tao Dynasty over the past two millennia. For decades, Tao Yúan has lived disguise as the "Dà Dào Wáng" Over Soul because of his mistrust of people. As the Dà Dào Wáng, the souls form into a huge and brutish behemoth. Around its arms and waist are belts of huge memorial tablets, containing what must be the remaining ancestral souls of the Tao dynasty. Tao Yúan operates this O.S. from the cockpit capsule hanging from the additional belt strip around his waist. Despite his size, Dà Dào Wáng is far from cumbersome and can move in an instance like a phantom. It would seem this oversoul uses a minnimum ammount of Furyoku as he was able to use it constantly for so many years and could easily regenerate it, even after beeing shattered or cut to pieces.
 * Japanese Translation: Dai Dou Ou
 * Shaman: Tao Yúan
 * O.S. Type: Spirit Type
 * Spirit Ally: The souls of Tao ancestry
 * Medium used: Armour of Memorial Tablets

O.S. Dà Dào Lóng
O.S. "Dà Dào Lóng"(大道竜) Description: As the Dà Dào Lóng, the ancestors souls gather inside the Bâo-Lèi Sword and take the form of a huge, scaled, Shénlóng-like dragon complete with Tao Yúan's head (with his exaggerated mustache &amp; beard) and four sets of claws. After he failed to use it for an attack, Yúan was later seen using the dragon for transport, first while giving Ren the Bâo-Lèi Sword, and later as a transport from the Patch Village to the place where the Shaman Tournament would be held in Tokyo. It is unknown which medium he uses to create it after he gives Ren the Bâo-Lèi Sword, however it is most likely his "Armour of Memorial Tablet" that is used to generate the large dragon.
 * Japanese Translation: Dai Dou Ryu
 * Shaman: Tao Yúan
 * O.S. Type: Spirit Type
 * Spirit Ally: The souls of Tao ancestry
 * Medium used: Bâo-Lèi Sword

Attacks


 * Great Vorpal Spiral(大中華螺旋, "Great Vorpal Spiral"): This attack is made by giving the Dà Dào Lóng all of ones Furyoku, however Ren quickly shattered the oversoul so the full extent of the attack was never realy shown.

Anime/Manga Difference
In the anime, after the defeat of Tao Yúan and there depature, the Tao family excluding Jun and Ren are not seen again, even though they in the manga follow Ren from the Patch Tribe in America to the Shaman Fight in Tokyo and cheers on him during his first fight. This also creates a plothole in why Asakura Mikihisa wanted to train with Ren and it is instead explained by the fact that Yoh's and Ren's teams has an argument about who is stronger. Also the english anime, instead of believing in the doctrine of Tao Yúan instead teaches Ren to "Destroy or be Destroyed". In the anime after defeating his father, the tattoo on Ren's back seems to dissappear. In the anime, Ren and Jun have a cousin named Ginny who was in the tournament with her younger siblings.