Bujutsu and Budo

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 life, experienced through continuous training, onto the visual image of progressing along a path that unfolds over time. In this sense, do inherently presupposes a temporal dimension—that of a lifetime. It is worth noting that in cultural practices such as the tea ceremony and flower arrangement, the appellations sado 茶道(the Way of Tea) and kado 華道 (the Way of Flowers) had already become established by the mid to late Edo period.

The idea of practicing martial techniques according to the philosophy of do is generally understood to have spread following Jigoro Kano’s founding of jūdo 柔道, in which he replaced the character jutsu 術 (“technique”) in jujutsu 柔術 with do 道. Subsequently, kyujutsu弓術 came to be called kyūdo 弓道, kenjutsu 剣術 became kendo 剣道, and Morihei Ueshiba established aikido合気道 from aiki-jujutsu 合気柔術. Around the same time, karate空手, which had been transmitted from Okinawa to mainland Japan, also adopted the suffix do and came to be known as karatedo空手道. In accordance with this broader trend of renaming, the transformation from bujutsu 武術 to budo武道 led to the contemporary understanding of the term budo. It is worth devoting some reflection to this sequence of developments.

For many years, samurai and soldiers who trained in what were known as bugei or bujutsu likely paid little attention to how their practices were labeled. Nevertheless, even without conscious concern for terminology, the passage of time brought changes in historical circumstances and social conditions. Along with these changes, the objectives, meanings, and modes of engagement in training also evolved. Training gradually shifted away from methods based on concrete, realistic combat scenarios toward the pursuit of the idealized “perfect strike” (migoto na ippon 見事な一本) and the disciplined training required to realize it. This shift naturally led practitioners to reexamine their own ways of living and even their personal character, resulting in an approach understood as do. By the time the trend emerged to change the designation from jutsu to do, it is likely that the orientation of training among martial artists had already become “do-like” in substance.

Jigoro Kano clearly articulated the guiding principles of the organization he founded through concepts such as seiryoku zen’yo 精力善用(maximum efficient use of energy) and jita kyoei 自他共栄(mutual welfare and benefit), and on this basis changed the name from jujutsu to judo. As the practice of replacing jutsu with do gradually spread, practitioners began to develop an objective awareness of the do concept that they had previously embodied in an intuitive manner. Today, this concept of do is no longer confined to a specific, preexisting category. Instead, it has come to be applied across a wide range of fields, including architecture, crafts, culinary arts, sports, and the arts. In each of these domains, individuals identify a particular path of pursuit and commit to it within their daily lives under the designation of “—do.” In this way, the concept of do became deeply embedded in Japanese society.

On the other hand, this development did not result in the disappearance of the term jutsu or the modes of practice associated with it. As noted above, kendo and judo signify practice informed by the philosophy of do, but at the same time they represent newly defined categories that are clearly distinct from earlier forms of kenjutsu and jujutsu. Consequently, the terms kenjutsu and jujutsu, as well as the transmission of techniques cultivated under those frameworks, have continued within the conceptual boundaries of jutsu. This does not imply, however, that practitioners of kenjutsu, jujutsu, or other forms of bujutsu lack the philosophy of do. As previously discussed, even before Kano initiated the trend of replacing jutsu with do, martial artists were already engaging—often unconsciously—in training informed by the philosophy of do.

In other words, even if a practice is labeled as bujutsu, it can be said to be practiced as budo insofar as it adheres to the conceptual framework of do. Conversely, if one’s training does not align with the concept of budo, then even if it formally belongs to the category of budo, it cannot truly be regarded as budo in terms of its actual practice.