Takeshi Oryoji

In all forms of physical activity, many people likely believe that what matters most is practice itself, and that what one chooses to call it is of little consequence. Rather than pondering whether what they practice is budo  or bujutsu , they focus instead on the techniques they wish to master and the bodily movements they have yet to acquire. The distinction between budo and bujutsu can be left to critics, they think, while they devote themselves to daily training. In a sense, those who are...

Long before the term budo 武道  came into existence in Japan, the words bujutsu  武術 and bugei  武芸 were already in use. Although the term budo  did appear at one point thereafter, it seems to have been used largely as a near synonym for bushido 武士道 , and its meaning differed somewhat from the sense in which budo  is commonly understood today. In contemporary usage, the term budo emphasizes practice grounded in the philosophy of do  道(the “Way”). The concept of do  overlays the passage of human...

For the concept of budo  to spread more widely in the future, it would be neither constructive nor effective to deny the duality between “defined budo” and “conceptual budo.” Rather, the only practical way forward is to develop and refine both aspects together. By allowing both to coexist while distinguishing between them, their differences can be more clearly understood, and as understanding deepens, the conceptual framework of budo  itself can expand.   In this respect, the structure of...