Budo?

Please define Budo for me. At what point does a Martial Art become Budo and/or cease being Budo. Do both of these terms(MA/Budo) change to fit current culture? Do they have the same definitions as 50, 100, 200 years ago? Actually, are MA/Budo even related? Just wondering. Please feel free to be as philosophical as you want(should not have said that).

Steve

If you look at the Chinese characters, Budo is commonly translated as "The Way of War". I am also told that those characters can also be interpreted as "Stop Spear". The spear being a common weapon.

So what are you training for? Are you training in the techniques of conflict or are you learning how to stop that conflict?

Hmmm.
Confused

From all what I have read and been told, Budo is interlinked with MA especially Japanese ones. The only exceptions being where the MA becomes a sport (like some forms of karate and Olympic taekwondo), where the aim isn't to learn how to defend against an assault, but to score points by simulating combat but in an unrealistic way. Some could argue that these MA originate from from more traditional arts and so still link with Budo and its teachings, like Judo. Budo is way of life, teaching and attitude.
Any comments welcome,
Dan

Ted is obviously technically correct, though I can't help feeling that Budo incorporates an element of Tanren or 'spirit forging'. Maybe this is due to the conversion of training methods from a direct use for battlefield fighting, to other aspects of life (both in martial arts and in the changing role of the samurai (from warrior to administrator).

Well...budo means grape...oh...not that one huh? My bad. Bu can mean 'Military' and Do means 'Way' but that's not all. I remember seeing in the book Flashing Steel that the chinese characters that Bu came from meant something peaceful...I don't know, it really would depend on why you want to learn a budo.

Daniel Moore wrote: From all what I have read and been told, Budo is interlinked with MA especially Japanese ones. The only exceptions being where the MA becomes a sport (like some forms of karate and Olympic taekwondo), where the aim isn't to learn how to defend against an assault, but to score points by simulating combat but in an unrealistic way.

This is the common conception. Others occur. See:

The Journal of Asian Martial Arts, Vol. 2:4 -- Hurst, G.C. "From heiho to bugei: The emergence of the martial arts in Tokugawa Japan"

IIRC, Hurst, Medeival Japan Historian, U of Penn., finishes the article dsiputing the exclusion of sportive forms from "Budo."

Also, sine qua non, UCLA's William Bodiford on Religion and Spirituality in the Martial arts of the world : an encyclopedia / edited by Thomas A. Green.

Bodiford situates the evolution of "DO" in the middle of, and as an expression of, ultranationalist militarism in 1920's Japan.

Also, see http://www.aikiweb.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4217, especially the latter exchanges with Chris Li.