“In the narrow sense of the term, Budo does not designate any particular martial arts discipline, but rather the quality and content of the manner in which one practices a discipline. So it is not because you seriously practice kendo, aikido, karate-do, the art of the staff (jodo) or archery (kyudo) - in short, any of the various disciplines that have the suffix “do” - that you practice Budo. It is when your practice of the physical discipline spontaneously contains this striving toward the cultivation of yourself as a whole person, the striving that is proper to the Way, that it becomes Budo. Your practice will then begin, through the technique, to become inseparable from seeking meaning in life. In Budo, the quest for quality in the technique is directly connected with the quest for meaning in life.”
- Kenji Tokitsu -