Daily Archives: August 12, 2012

Budo is the collective name of the martial arts that practice the “way of the warrior.”  Budo as a term was first coined in 1919 by the Dai Nippon Butoku-kai (at the time the governing organization for martial arts in Japan) to describe the new names for various martial arts such as kenjitsu, ju-jitsu, and kyujutsu and others, changing  them to the new names of  kendo, akido, judo, kyudo, iaido, karate-do and others.  It is not likely that you will discuss budo in any of these martial  arts yet it is carefully passed down from person to person.  These ways of the warrior are stoic demeanor, awareness, respect, loyalty, gratitude and sincerness for each other, and other practices of all traditional budo martial arts.  Budo is not learned by reading about it,  it literally is a way of life, a path of life in which the practice of the budo martial art infuses the very outlook, and conduct that you have in daily life. Budo stresses the spiritual nature of life, it is the physical path to enlightenment.  Recently the term budo has been used loosely to define any Japanese martial art. Think carefully of all the traditions and the ways of kendo and you will gain a greater appreciation of budo, the way of the warrior.