Budo and Bujutsu

Bujutsu is if you like the other side of the coin to Budo. Budo is really a way of life, of greater wisdom or enlightenment, whereas bujutsu is the war like side of Budo, the science. The word bujutsu is a link to the military past of Japanese history and its word usage means different things to many people. In our school we refer to the word bujutsu within our weapon training side. The obvious being that the weapon training is purely attack and defence in a battle field situation.

 Similarly to budō, bujutsu is a compound of the roots bu (武), and jutsu (術:じゅつ), meaning science, craft, or art. Thus, budō is most often translated as "the way of war", or "martial way", while bujutsu is translated as "science of war" or "martial craft." However, both budō and bujutsu are used interchangeably in English with the term "martial arts".

Budo and bujutsu have quite a delicate difference, whereas bujutsu only gives attention to the physical part of fighting (how to best defeat an enemy), budo also gives attention to the mind and how you should develop yourself. Modern budo uses aspects of the lifestyle of the samurai of feudal Japan and translates them to self-development in modern life.

Budō is a compound of the root bu (武:ぶ), meaning war or martial; and dō (道:どう), meaning path or way. Specifically, dō is derived from the Buddhist Sanskrit mārga (meaning the 'path' to enlightenment). The term refers to the idea of formulating propositions, subjecting them to philosophical critique and then following a 'path' to realize them.

 Dō signifies a 'way of life'. Dō in the Japanese context, is an experiential term, experiential in the sense that practice (the way of life) is the norm to verify the validity of the discipline cultivated through a given art form. The modern budō has no external enemy, only the internal enemy, one's ego that must be fought (state of Muga-mushin).

Generally speaking, a school of martial arts chooses whatever term they feel most comfortable with. A martial arts school might choose to call their practice bujutsu, because they desire a connection with the past, or to emphasize that their art is practiced as it was during a certain point in history. A school might choose to call their practice budō to reflect an emphasis on spiritual and philosophical development, or simply to reflect that the art was developed more recently.