Japanese word meaning "the martial way". Budo is formed from two Chinese characters. The character for Bu is composed of two symbols : One meaning "stop" another that represents two crossed halberds. Thus bu means stop a conflict. Do means a way or a life philosophy.

The term Budo can also be used in a more limited fashion to refer to what is called the "gendai" budo, the modern martial arts developed after the Meiji restoration of 1868. This is in constrast to bujutsu which were developed prior to this. In addition budo implies an emphasis on the spiritual and meditative aspects of the martial art. The term koryu budo can be used to mean the pre-1868 "Old Tradition" martial arts.